For Our Children
by Lucia Geuse
Summary: Sequel to Devil's in the Details.  It's been 6 years and BJ and Lyds have been married for 12, almost 13. Kiera now has a sister, Gwen and they have settled into a good life.  What happens when a few tragic things occur?  Can this family survive?
1. Galla Opening

**Disclaimer: These are not my characters with the exception of Kiera, Guinevere and John. They are mine, but the rest are not, sadly.**

So I couldn't sleep last night and just had to start this story. This is the sequel to my story Devil in the Details. It's set 6 years after Devil in the Details ended. In between that time Lydia had a little girl named Guinevere (it's a significant name just like Kiera's is). Kiera is now 7 years old and her younger sister is about 5. They have been living a fairly normal life, as close as you can get being married to a ghost ;). This chapter is just setting a few things up, it seems a bit too normal, but trust me it's not going to be that way for long! In fact, it's not even going to last past the first chapter when things really get going. I hope that you enjoy the first part of this story. PLEASE REVIEW!!! and let me know what you think!

As a sidenote: Most if not all of my characters have important names that signify something. Kiera's name is Celtic and it means: Black Haired. Guinevere is Welsh and it means: White Ghost or Phantom. I thought they were both very appropriate.

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Kiera and her sister Guenevere, Gwen for short, waited outside of the school for their father to pick them up. 

"I can't wait for Halloween it's going to be so much fun." Gwen said wrapping her navy blue blazer tighter to her, bracing herself against the chilly wind.

"It's always fun, but I'm glad this year the school decided to do some more scary stuff, not just the lame harvest festival junk they did last year. I thought Dad was going to freak out when we told him all that was going to be there was face painting and hay rides." Kiera said brushing her dark hair out of her eyes. Gwen giggled and nodded.

"It was funny, Mom wasn't too thrilled with it either. She said we should have run the show, at least that way they would have gotten it right."

"Tell me about it. This year will be better. Have you decided what you want to be?"

"I want to be either a vampire or a banshee. What do you think?" Kiera looked at her little sister. Even though they looked like the exact opposite, they were so much alike it scared people. Kiera had black raven hair just like their mothers while Gwen had almost white blonde hair like their father. Gwen's eyes were a deep sapphire blue and Kiera's were a mossy green.

"Either one would work." She said and shrugged. "I'm going to be a witch."

"That's what you were last year."

"Yeah, but...Dad's here." Kiera said looking up as the black Mercedes pulled up. They grabbed their backpacks and hopped in the car.

"How was your day girls?" Beetlejuice asked his daughters as they drove off.

"Good, we were just talking about Halloween." Kiera said.

"You know it's my favorite holiday." He said grinning.

"We know Dad." They said in unison and giggled..

"Do we have to go to Grandma's art gallery?" Gwen asked.

"Yes we do Babydoll. Your grandmother would throw a fit if we weren't there." Beetlejuice didn't really want to go either, but since he'd been the model for all of Delia's work, he didn't have much of a choice. "We won't stay the whole weekend in New York, just long enough to see the gallery opening then we'll head home."

"Good because we have to work on our costumes for the festival." Kiera said. Beetlejuice laughed and shook his head.

"Another festival huh? Like _last _year's?"

"Nope, this year we're actually doing a haunted house and other sorts of creepy stuff."

"Oh yeah? Well it's about time." Beetlejuice said as he pulled up to their house.

Beetlejuice and Lydia had decided to move into a bigger house since the girls were getting bigger. The townhouse just didn't have enough space for all of them anymore. Lydia had spent the last few months painting the walls from white to rich dark colors that saturated the walls.

"Okay girls, go say hi to your mother and then go up and get ready to head into the city. We need to be there before the gallery opens." He said opening the door for them.

"Okay Dad." They said together and raced into the house.

Lydia had been painting for the last two hours and her back was killing her. She laid down the paint roller saturated in a grey blue that she chose for the family room.

"Mom!" Her girls called from the living room.

"I'll be out in a second." Lydia called back and took off her old shirt she used as a smock, covered in wet paint. She walked into the living room where she was attacked by her girls, who almost knocked her to the ground. She laughed and hugged them to her tight. Beetlejuice walked to her and gave her a kiss prying the girls off of her and shooing them to their rooms.

"Go get ready." He called after them.

"We're going, we're going." Kiera said as they climbed up the stairs. Lydia watched her girls until they disappeared.

"Delia's not going to be thrilled when she sees the dresses they picked out." She said and smiled. Beetlejuice looked at his wife and winked at her.

"When is she ever thrilled with the clothes they pick out? They're just like their mother." Lydia laughed and gave Beetlejuice another kiss.

"We better get ready ourselves. Delia wants us there to calm her down before the gallery is opened and I've got paint all over me that needs to be scrubbed off. She claims this is her best work ever."

"Of course it is, look who was the model." Beetlejuice said lifting his eyebrows. Lydia just shook her head, a smile on her face as they walked up the stairs to put on their black tie clothes, with an emphasis on black.

"Where are they?" Delia hissed at Charles as she paced back and forth in the gallery. Charles looked at the clock and had another sip of wine.

"They should be here at any moment Delia. You know that Lydia and Beej wouldn't miss this. They're even bringing the girls so they can see your work." Delia gave a heavy sigh. She knew she shouldn't be nervous, but this was the first time her work was actually going to be shown in a gallery. She had shocked the art world to it's core when she'd introduced her dark lion seven years ago and left them begging for more. She was determined to do an entire collection before she let anyone see them and had Beetlejuice model for her since then. Only Charles and Beetlejuice had seen her entire collection. Lydia had been so busy redecorating their new house and since the girls had been in school they hadn't had much time to come over to see it. This was the collection that was going to put her into the art books for good.

"We're here." Lydia called as they walked in. Delia turned and her face fell. They were all dressed in black, every last one of them. Didn't they know the meaning of the word color?

"How do you like our dresses Grandma?" Kiera asked, twirling her black skirt and smiling.

"You two look so pretty." Delia said giving them each a tiny hug and a kiss on the cheek before she turned to look at Lydia, who in truth was stunning. Lydia's long black formal gown cut into a sharp V halter and slid down her tiny frame. When Lydia turned her back Delia could see the dress was cut to where she was almost completely bare backed except for a few trim pieces that connected the back to the halter neck. "You look wonderful Lydia." She said and gave her step daughter a hug. "Black for the girls?" She whispered in Lydia's ear.

"You know black is chic Delia, besides they picked the dresses out themselves." Lydia said and walked over to her father.

"You look beautiful Pumpkin." He said giving her a hug.

"How's Delia doing?" She asked keeping an eye on Kiera and Gwen as they raced around the large room looking at all of the sculptures.

"She's nervous, but she'll be fine." Lydia just nodded and took a glass of wine from one of the caterers.

"How did you ever come up with this stuff Grandma?" Gwen asked taking a close look at Beetlejuice's version of a tiger. The adults gave quick glances to one another before Delia answered.

"They just popped into my head I suppose." They had all decided when Kiera was just over a year old that they would keep the fact that Beetlejuice, Adam and Barbara were ghosts a secret. That meant a lot of restriction on Beetlejuice's part and a lot of explaining why Adam and Barbara lived with Delia and Charles. For the most part the girls accepted it, but now that they were getting older, it was getting harder to come up with excuses.

"I guess you and Mom must think a like then." Kiera said before she turned back to look at the sculpture. Lydia wrinkled her nose at that thought and when Beetlejuice caught it, he chuckled.

"Don't worry Babes, she just means that you're deliciously dark." He said and kissed her cheek. Lydia laughed softly and took another sip of wine.

By the time the gallery opened there was already a crowd of fabulously dressed people waiting to catch a glimpse of the dark sculptures. Delia was in her element as she walked around explaining her creative process. Kiera and Gwen made faces at the people who came up to them and patted them on the head or pinched their cheeks. Lydia only shrugged her shoulders and hid a smile when her daughters glared at her, rubbing their sore cheeks when a very large woman in silk pinched them so hard they almost cried out.

"Well it looks like you're a success Delia." Charles said a few hours later when the last of the guests shuffled out.

"Yes Charles, my sculptures did seem to be a hit didn't they?"

"Did you ever have any doubt?" Beetlejuice asked. Delia just smiled at him and patted his arm.

"Of course not, but one never knows with this crowd. They can be so picky." Delia said with a small smile, she'd grown very fond of him since he agreed to be her model. Lydia walked over to Kiera and Gwen who were nodding off in the corner.

"Can we go home now?" Gwen asked, trying to keep her eyes open. Lydia smiled and saw that the right side of their faces were still a little red from the pinches.

"Yes, we're going home." She said and lifted her smallest daughter up into her arms. Gwen wrapped her legs around Lydia's waist and hugged her tight. She motioned for Beetlejuice to come and pick up Kiera. He lifted her into his strong arms and she cuddled into his shoulder as they made their way out to the car.

"We'll see you later." Lydia said leaning in as her father gave her a peck on the cheek. "Congratulations Delia, it was a hit and I'm sure you'll be getting offers."

"I think so I noticed a few people talking with Bernard."

"It's been a long night." Beetlejuice said when they started to make their way home.

"Yes it has, but Delia's happy so that means that my father will be happy." She smiled and sighed.

"I wonder if this means I'll have to keep modeling for Delia. I'm running out of ideas." Beetlejuice said. Lydia laughed and laid her head on his shoulder.

"I don't know, but I think she'll be riding her high for a little while."

"I hope so."

Lydia and Beetlejuice carried their children into their house and up the stairs to their bedrooms. Lydia carefully sat Gwen down on the bed and pulled her into her nightgown.

"Night Princess." She said and kissed her soft white hair. Beetlejuice walked out of Kiera's room at the same time Lydia walked out of Gwen's.

"I'm exhausted." Lydia said as they made their way to their own bedroom and turned on the light.

"You and me both Babes." He said. He had wanted to come home a bit earlier having visions of Lydia the entire night. She just had to look that good when he couldn't do anything about it. He made a silent vow to be extra energized in the morning to wake her up. Lydia slipped out of her dress and into a nightgown and cuddled against Beetlejuice and fell instantly asleep.


	2. I'm Dead?

Lydia raced into town to pick up the fabric for their costumes. She had been so wrapped up in her painting that she had completely forgotten to pick them up. The rain was pouring down in sheets as she drove her new Mercedes. Now that Beetlejuice owned his own car lot it seemed like they had new cars every year. She bent over the steering wheel to try and see better, but the rain was so heavy, it flooded the windshield. She had to get to the store and then pick up Kiera and Gwen after their meeting about the festival. She hoped that the rain wouldn't pour down on them during Halloween, all of their hard work would be gone. She pulled into the parking lot and tried to protect herself against the rain, but it didn't do much good.

She picked out the colors that each of them wanted, black of course, silver and purple for Kiera and white and grey for Gwen. She threw the fabric into the backseat of her car and took off for the school. It didn't seem possible, but the rain had increased while she was in the store. Her cell phone rang and she reached down to get it. When she came back up trying to open her cell phone she looked up just in time to see a branch drop onto her windshield. She screamed and swerved, her car breaking the barrier and going over the bridge and into the river. Lydia was in shock for a second before she felt the icy water start to seep into the car. She scrambled to unlock her seat belt and get out. She pushed on the door, but the water was deep and the pressure pushed back. She felt the hysteria rise in her as she struggled.

"Please no, my babies." She cried to herself. She turned and pushed the door with her feet, but it wouldn't budge. The water rushed into the car and she felt frozen as it came up covering her body.

Beetlejuice paced back and forth in the living room. Lydia had been gone for hours and the school had called him to ask if he was going to pick up the girls. When they came home Beetlejuice had hoped that Lydia had gotten so involved in her painting that she just forgot to call, but the knots in his stomach increased when she was no where to be found. He had called her phone a dozen times, but each time she didn't answer.

"Where's Mom?" Kiera asked walking into the room with a juice box. Beetlejuice turned to look at her and smiled.

"She probably just got so wrapped up in the fabric store she lost track of time." He said lying smoothly. He'd called the store and asked if they'd seen Lydia. She went in there so often that they knew her by name.

"No, she left a few hours ago in a big hurry to pick up Kiera and Gwen, is everything all right?" The manager asked over the phone.

"I'm sure everything is fine, I just can't get her on her phone, must be because of the rain." He said, his stomach churning.

"Why don't you go upstairs and do your homework Kier?" Beetlejuice suggested. Kiera gave him a suspicious glance, so much like her mother before she slowly nodded and went upstairs.

When Beetlejuice turned back to begin pacing he saw Lydia in the doorway, a blank stare on her face and soaking wet.

"Babes, where the hell have you been?" He asked, terrified and relieved that she was okay. She looked at him, but she still had a blank stare on her face.

"I have no idea, I can't remember anything." She said as she walked into the room and sat down. He looked at her and felt his stomach drop. He slowly walked up to her and placed his hand on her chest.

"What are you doing Beej?" She asked looking up at him. Lydia felt like her head was in a vice. Everything was so fuzzy she could hardly remember her husband's name. Beetlejuice looked at her, his face falling. "What?"

"Babes, you're dead." He said pressing down trying desperately to feel a heartbeat, but all he felt was cold skin. Lydia shook her head, she must have heard wrong. She looked at him, but his face remained the same.

"No, I couldn't be. I was just at the fabric store and then..." Her voice dropped off as she remembered. "A branch broke off and dropped onto the windshield and I panicked and swerved." She looked at him, tears forming in her eyes. "Oh Beej am I really dead?" This couldn't be happening, she was only twenty nine years old, she couldn't be dead. He pulled her to him and rocked her back and forth as she cried.

"What's wrong Mom?" Gwen asked when she came down the stairs. Beetlejuice turned to look at his daughter.

"Your mom just had a tough day, she'll be okay. Go back upstairs and finish your homework." He called. Gwen paled when she saw her mother crying before she raced up the stairs to tell Kiera what she saw.

"They can't know Beej. We haven't told them that you're dead. They can't know that I am too. They're just too young to understand what's going on." Lydia said, wrapping her hands around the lapels of his jacket.

"I know Babes. The thing is, is that even though you might be solid, you're not. There's your body somewhere and eventually someone is going to find it. Think about Adam and Barbara, they are buried somewhere." He said. Lydia felt cold, but she supposed that's the way she was going to feel for the rest of her...well forever.

"We have to get my body then, before anyone else does."

"How are we going to do that? Don't you think someone will be suspicious if they see us trying to drag your body out?"

"Then we'll have to do it in the middle of the night. Then when they find my car in the river, we can just tell them that I survived and was shocked so I didn't call anyone, just came home." It had to work. She didn't want her children knowing the truth. They were so young, so innocent of all of this and she wanted to keep them that way for as long as possible. She looked at Beetlejuice with sheer determination. He sighed and nodded.

"Tonight, when it's dark we'll go and see if we can find you." He said. He didn't like it, but like Lydia, he didn't see much of a choice in the matter.

Lydia went upstairs to check on her daughters. She walked into Kiera's room to see her at her desk drawing.

"How are you doing Babydoll?" Lydia asked as she sat down on her daughter's bed. They had just painted the room a greyish purple and the smell of fresh paint was still faint in the room. Kiera turned to see her mother and stretched.

"I'm okay Mom, Gwen told me that you were crying." She was uncomfortable knowing that her mother had cried, she was glad she hadn't seen it. Lydia smiled and nodded.

"Come here." She said and scooped her oldest daughter up in her lap. "I had a scare today. I was coming to get you and your sister when a branch broke and fell down on top of the windshield. I panicked and swerved and the car fell into the river." She said, telling her daughter part of the truth made her feel a little bit better. Kiera craned her neck up and looked at her mother in horror.

"Are you okay Mom? It doesn't look like you even got a scratch." Kiera said examining her mother with her hands. "You do feel cold though, must have been from the water." Lydia smiled and dropped a kiss on her daughter's head.

"I was very lucky. It's time for you to go to sleep and tomorrow we'll start on both of your costumes for the festival." She said getting up from the bed and giving her daughter a hug. Kiera nodded and yawned as she climbed into bed.

"Night Mom, love you."

"Night Baby, I love you too." She called from the door as she shut off the lights. She quietly closed the door and walked to Gwen's bedroom. Gwen was already asleep in her small bed. Lydia smiled down at her youngest daughter and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Gwen shifted in her bed and turned over.

"I'm cold." She said quietly in her sleep. Lydia sighed and stroked her daughter's hair, her heart breaking knowing that she'd never be able to make them feel warm again.

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Told ya that the normalcy wouldn't last long :) Review and let me know what you think! More to come very soon. 


	3. Midnight Swim

The river looked black in the middle of the night. Lydia shivered when she looked up to see the bridge busted apart where her car had crashed through it.

"Are you ready Babes?" Beetlejuice asked her. She turned to look at him and nodded. She waded into the cold water with him and held her breath. Beetlejuice stared at her and smiled.

"Lyds, your dead, you don't need to breathe." He said. She let her air out and smiled.

"I forgot." She said.

"Easily done, come on, lets go find your body." He said and threw a cement block with a rope attached to it so they wouldn't drift away in the current and reached out to hold her hand.

They waded into the icy water and dove in with the underwater flashlight. Lydia saw her car and forced herself to go on. Beetlejuice went forward and looked inside, shook his head and went back to Lydia, pointing up to the surface. When they broke the surface Beetlejuice looked at Lydia.

"I don't think you need to see this, I can get it and you go back to the shore okay?" The look on his face told Lydia that he wasn't going to budge on this point. She nodded and used the rope to pull her back.

Beetlejuice went back under the water to the car and looked inside. Lydia's lifeless body floated in the car. He forced himself to focus on what he needed to do and not think of the body as his wife. His wife was standing on the shore waiting for him, this was just what she left behind. He yanked the body out and came back up to the surface, tugging on the rope with one hand.

Lydia looked at the body that Beetlejuice had pulled up. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Her old body was tinged purple, black hair sticking to her head.

"It doesn't even look like me." She whispered.

"It's because it isn't Babes, it's just a thing now. You're here and real with me." He said turning her to face him. She nodded and hugged him fiercely.

"Okay Beej, let's just get rid of it." She said. Beetlejuice dragged the body while Lydia covered the tracks. Lydia felt like she was committing a crime, even though it was her body. "What do you think we should do?" She asked holding his hand tightly. Beetlejuice thought hard about the best way to cover their tracks so no one suspected that Lydia had died. They looked down at the body for a few minutes before he snapped his fingers.

"I got it Babes, it's brilliant." He said.

"What?" She asked. He didn't say anything just snapped his fingers and a hole appeared in front of them. Lydia saw the familiar desert like landscape that she hadn't seen in seven long years after that terrible night. A smile appeared on her face as she grabbed her husbands face and kissed him.

"It's brilliant Beej, no one will find the body and we can go on living. We won't have to tell anyone anything." Beetlejuice didn't feel anything as he picked up the dead body and threw it into the hole and with a snap he closed it. He held out his hand and Lydia grasped it, lacing her fingers with his.

"Let's go home and get some sleep." She said smiling. He nodded and they made their way back to their house.

Lydia woke up the next morning feeling wonderful. She had the strangest dream last night. She just shook her head and climbed out of bed to wake up Kiera and Gwen to get ready for school. She felt a little cold, but since the weather was changing she just pulled on a sweatshirt over her tank top not thinking about it.

"Kiera, time to wake up." Lydia whispered gently shaking her oldest daughter. Kiera mumbled stretched.

"Okay Mom, I'm up." She said. When Lydia left the room she fell back against her pillows. Lydia went to go wake up Gwen and almost laughed out loud when she saw her daughter's position. She had somehow managed to pull her covers off and moved around to where her feet were laying on a pillow. She walked in and gently tickled her feet. Gwen twitched and opened her eyes.

"Mom, that's not fair." She said stretching. Lydia giggled and gave her a kiss.

"You're cold." Gwen said rubbing her cheek.

"Yeah I know, your father must have left the window open last night." She said. Lydia walked downstairs to see Beetlejuice already up.

"Good morning Beej." She said giving him a kiss.

"Hey Babes, we need to talk about something before the kids come downstairs." He said seriously.

"What's the matter?" She asked sitting down next to him.

"Now that your dead," He started and then stopped to see Lydia's face.

"You mean that wasn't a dream?" She asked feeling her stomach drop.

"No Babes, it happened. You'll never age, you'll look like this forever." He said and couldn't help but smile. Lydia sank down in the chair and looked at her husband.

"You would think about that wouldn't you?" She asked.

"Babes, even though I'm a ghost, I'm a guy first. You look fantastic and I can't help but be thrilled that you'll look just the way you are." He said and gave her a charming smile. Despite herself she smiled too. It was nice to know that she'd never have to go through the agony of watching herself age.

"There's a problem with that Beej."

"What's that?"

"Well it might look kind of funny when the girls keep growing up and start looking older than I do." She said. Beetlejuice sat back at that statement. He hadn't thought about that.

"You're right Lyds, but that won't happen for a good long time. In the mean time we'll let them be kids and when we feel like they're mature enough to understand this, then we'll tell them." Lydia nodded and went into the kitchen to make the girls' lunches. Kiera and Gwen came down the stairs and grabbed their lunches.

"Okay we'll see you later Babes." Beetlejuice said giving her a kiss before he shooed them out to take them to school. Lydia sat back for a while after everyone had left and closed her eyes. She heard a knock on the door sometime later and she sighed before she got up to answer the door.

"Mrs. Lydia Juice?" An officer asked. There was another, younger officer standing behind him.

"Yes?" She asked standing in the doorway.

"We found your car at the bottom of the river this morning." He said. Lydia opened the door wider and allowed them in.

"Yes, yesterday when I was going to get my children there was a branch that fell and I swerved and my car landed into the river." Lydia said.

"Why didn't you call us after your accident." The officer who had been silent asked, taking out his notebook. Lydia looked down shyly before she answered.

"I was in so much shock that I just didn't think. All I wanted to do was come home and crawl into bed. It was rather scary you know?"

"You should have called us, saved us a lot of hassle." He frowned at her. Lydia saw the older officer shoot a glance at his partner before he spoke again.

"Forgive my partner Mrs. Juice. We understand that you were in shock. Was anyone else hurt?"

"No, I was the only one on the road at the time." Lydia said shaking her head.

"Were you hurt?" He asked.

"Not even a scratch. I was very lucky." She said and smiled.

"I'll say, well that's really all we needed. We apologize for the inconvenience, we had to tow your vehicle and place it in police evidence, just to make sure." Lydia nodded.

"I understand. If you need any more information please give either my husband or myself a call." Lydia said.

"Yes Ma'am." He said and nodded to her. Lydia smiled as they left her house. She couldn't believe how easy it was, but then again she was standing right in front of them.


	4. Adjusting

This is what I've got so far. Review and let me know what you think!

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Lydia worked on the costumes for her daughter's while they were in school. Gwen had wanted to be a banshee and Kiera wanted to be a witch again. She cut out the fabric and sewed them together to make costumes. For the past few days she'd been feeling restless and edgy and she thought that if she kept herself busy then the feeling would go away. The only problem was that it was getting worse. She didn't know why she was feeling that way and it was starting to bother her.

"How's the costumes going?" Kiera asked walking into the family room where Lydia had set up her sewing machine.

"Fine Kiera, go away and leave me alone." Lydia snapped not turning to look at her daughter. Kiera was startled by her mother's tone and backed out of the room quietly. Lydia immediately regretted speaking to Kiera that way, she didn't know why she did. She sighed and rubbed her sore eyes. She walked out into the living room where Kiera and Gwen were sitting on the floor with a game in between them.

"Kiera?" She said. Kiera just looked at her. She sighed and sat down on the couch. "Come here girls." She said. They slowly got up and went to sit next to their mother. Lydia put an arm around each of them and felt the slight resistance. "I know I've been a little on edge lately. I'm not sure why, but I'm trying to get better okay?" They didn't say anything just sat there.

"It's not your fault and you both haven't done anything wrong I think it's just because of my accident. It's left my nerves a little frayed." The acknowledgment that it wasn't something that they had done softened them up a bit and they relaxed a bit more. Lydia smiled and kissed each of them.

"Mom you're so cold." Gwen said. Lydia sighed, there wasn't any easy answer she could give to her children to tell them that would explain why she was cold. She just shrugged and let them go play again. Lydia walked back into the family and stared at the sewing machine. She'd finish the costumes tomorrow, right now she just wanted to be alone. She heard the door open and knew that Beetlejuice had come home.

"Where's your mother?" He asked the girls when he walked in the door.

"In the family room, how come she's been so mad lately?" Gwen asked. Beetlejuice looked into his daughter's dark blue eyes. "She said it was because of the accident, but I don't know. Do you think it's us?"

"Oh no Babydoll. It's definitely not you two. She's just going through a hard time right now, it's okay." He said and hugged his daughters to him. He walked into the family room where Lydia was sitting in the chair staring at the sewing machine.

"How you feelin' Babes?" He asked reaching down to give her a kiss. She turned her cheek to him and sighed looking back. He saw the tears forming in her eyes.

"Beej, I don't know what's the matter with me. I just feel so..." She really didn't know how she felt, but she knew she didn't like it.

"Babes, it happens with everyone when they're...newly deceased." He added in a whisper so the girls wouldn't hear.

"Really?" She asked looking up at him.

"Yeah, I went through it myself. You're not really sure what to do. It's like you have all of this nervous energy and you just snap. It's natural and you'll get over it soon enough. It's probably even harder on you because you do have to act like your still living even though you're not."

"Why am I feeling so restless Beej?"

"Because your working on your powers. All that energy is changing and soon you'll be able to do all the stuff that I can." He said smiling. "It's a phase Babes, just the first part of being dead."

"What else is going to happen to me?" She asked leaning against him. He smiled and kissed her hair.

"Well you'll start being able to walk through walls and go invisible and you're skin will get a slight blue hue to it, not bad, but still. Then the real fun starts."

"How are we going to keep all of this away from the girls?" Lydia felt like everything was happening so fast and she didn't know how to deal with any of it.

"We'll figure it out." He said in his soothing voice. She sighed and nodded.

"I think I'm going to go see Dad and Delia. Will you stay with the girls?"

"Sure Babes, you're going to go tell Adam and Barbara aren't you?" He asked.

"Yes." She blurted out. "I have to tell someone else besides you. It's driving me crazy."

"I understand Babes, don't worry about it. They'll keep your secret." Lydia nodded and walked out, giving her girls another big hug before she walked out.

"Pumpkin, we weren't expecting you." Charles said when he answered the door. Lydia smiled faintly and walked in. "You feeling all right Pumpkin? You look a little blue." Charles said looking at his daughter.

"I'm okay Dad, just a little jittery after...you know." She said. Charles and Delia had heard about the accident and raced over the next day to see if everything was all right.

"I bet you are. That was quite a scare. We thought we might have lost you." He said and Lydia felt like someone put ice water in her stomach. She nodded at her father feeling a wave of guilt wash over her.

"I better go say hi to Adam and Barbara real fast." She said and dashed up the stairs. She gave a slight knock on the attic door and slowly opened up the door.

"Lydia, we thought we heard you downstairs." Adam said. Lydia couldn't help it, she burst into tears. Barbara rushed over and went to put her arms around her, but they went right through her. She gasped out loud and backed away.

"Lydia..." She started, but Lydia only continued to cry.

"I'm...dead." She blurted out. They stood there, shocked and struggled to figure out what they could say. Lydia wiped away her tears and took a deep breath.

"How can you..." Adam asked.

"The contract that Beej and I had was changed when we found out we loved each other. I got to bypass the haunting requirement and walk around like he does. It's just so hard, I mean you'd think being dead would be easier, but it isn't." She said sinking down to the couch.

"Have you told Kiera and Gwen?" Barbara asked. Lydia shook her head.

"I don't want them to find out. Only you two and Beej knows that I'm not living anymore. They don't need to struggle with that right now, they're so young." Lydia said and watched Adam and Barbara nod their heads in agreement.

"They shouldn't know, at least not yet. Oh Lydia we should have known that you wouldn't have made it when the car fell into the river." Barbara said. She felt miserable that the daughter she felt like Lydia was, was now dead.

"BJ told me that at least I won't age." She said with a smile.

"That's true you won't, but still Lydia it's not like it's a free pass. You'll have to struggle with getting your powers and..." Adam said.

"I've been doing that. That's why I needed to talk with you guys, what happened with you?" She asked.

"Well I went into a cleaning frenzy and couldn't really clean much because the vacuum was in the garage and Adam was working on his model. We weren't really sure what to do." Barbara said. Lydia smiled a little, she did feel a little better now that she'd told somebody what had happened.

"I guess I better go see Dad and Delia before they send up a search party." Lydia said. She gave them each a big hug and left to go downstairs. She hadn't even realized that she walked through the door instead of opening it.

"There you are Lydia, I was wondering where you'd run off to." Delia said when Lydia walked down the stairs.

"I was just saying hello to Barbara and Adam." She said smiling.

"Well I got several offers for my sculptures. Apparently it's all the rage now." Delia said.

"That's wonderful, I'll be sure to tell Beej he's a hit." Lydia said. Delia looked at her and cocked her head to the side.

"Are you feeling all right Lydia? You seem a little more pale than usual and a bit on the thin side. Have you been eating?"

"I've been a little stressed lately, but I'll be fine. I better go before the girls convince their father that they need a new bike, pony or something along those lines."

"Speaking of your girls. I got this today." Delia said walking to the coffee table and handing Lydia an envelope. Lydia raised an eyebrow and opened it up. She felt her stomach drop and looked at her step mother.

"I was going to give it to you tomorrow, but since you here..." Delia's voice trailed off. Lydia gave her and her father a quick hug and headed home.

"What's this?" Beetlejuice asked when Lydia handed him the envelope.

"Just read it." She said, her voice cracking as she fought back tears. He slid the letter out of the envelope and read it quickly.

"Who's Myrtle and Robert?" He asked. Lydia sank onto the bed and put her head in her hands.

"They're John's parents. They must have finally found me." She said.

"Who cares?"

"What if they want to see Kiera? How are we going to explain that? She thinks you're her father and I don't want her to find out about John." Lydia said, her nerves already on edge. Beetlejuice saw his wife quickly heading into hysteria and gently grasped her upper arms.

"Lyds, they haven't said anything about Kiera in the letter. They just said that they'd like to talk with you about him. You can tell them that you've moved on with your life and don't want to bring it up." He said, his voice firm, but gentle. Lydia just laid her head on his chest feeling his strength.

"I just don't want Kiera to know that she was created with a monster." Lydia whispered. Beetlejuice stroked her back, resting his chin on her head.

"We'll figure it out Lyds. Right now you're still adjusting and we need to focus on that." Lydia nodded her head and reached up for a kiss.


	5. Halloween

I've been working on this story almost every free moment I have. I want to know how it's looking so far. I know it's a little bit different vibe from my first story, but it's something that I knew had to happen. Things are starting to unfold as the story goes on, keep with me as I go through this story.

Please let me know what you think! I can always use opinions and I take everything anyone says to heart!

Keegan Eavan

* * *

Lydia helped Gwen put on her make up for the Halloween festival. She was still a little tense, but she pushed it aside to not let her daughters know. She finished the last bit of black around her eyes and examined her work. 

"There, you're all ready now." Lydia said. Gwen turned to look in the mirror. Lydia had painted her pale face a ghostly white with black around her eyes and lips.

"It looks great Mom." Gwen said. Lydia smiled at her youngest daughter, dressed like a banshee.

"Good, I'm going to go help your sister and then your father and I have to get ready." Lydia said kissing her finger and touching her nose. She walked out and into Kiera's room. Kiera was already dressed in her witches costume.

"Ready for your make up?" Lydia asked. Kiera nodded and Lydia sat down and began to apply.

"What are you and Dad going to dress up as?" Kiera asked as Lydia applied the heavy white make up.

"You're father is going as what he always goes as, a ghost and I've decided to go as a ghost too. Now keep still so I don't mess up your lines." Lydia said. Kiera smiled and kept still while Lydia applied the white, black and silver to her daughter's face.

When she finished she walked into her bedroom and laid down on the bed. Beetlejuice walked in and laid down next to her.

"Feelin' any better Babes?" He asked. Lydia turned and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm feeling better. We just have to get ready." She said and sighed.

"That's not a prob Babes, it's the perfect time to test what powers you've got now." He said. Lydia lifted herself up on her elbows and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure." He said and got up to close the door. He snapped his finger and he was dressed in his black and white stripped suit, his hair wild with black around his eyes. She giggled when she saw her husband the way he looked when they first met. "Close your eyes and think about what you want to be. Concentrate on it." He said and watched as Lydia closed her eyes. She began to think about what she wanted to look like. She saw herself in a large gray wig, her face painted white and black. A beautiful full length black gown with a black and white brocade overlay. As she concentrated on that image she found herself tingling all over.

Beetlejuice watched as he saw Lydia change. She had something going, but she wasn't strong enough yet, but soon. She slowly changed back to what she was wearing and opened her eyes.

"Not yet, but soon Babes. I think I got an image of what you were going for." He said and snapped his fingers. Lydia looked down and saw she was wearing what she had envisioned.

"It's wonderful Beej, so that's all you have to do is concentrate on what you want?"

"That's it." Beetlejuice said smiling.

"Huh, I never knew it was so easy." She said.

"It's easy once you get the hang of it. Before then it's a little tough." He said. Lydia nodded and looked at herself in the mirror, her long black hair was dusted with grey and pulled up into curls that was accented against the high black collar. "Okay, well let's go." She said and tucked her arm in Beetlejuice's.

"Wow, you all look amazing." Kiera's teacher, Miss Simms, said when they walked into the school.

"Thank you Miss Simms, you look great too." Lydia said with a smile on her face. The middle aged woman was dressed in a princess costume.

"So our girls have told us that you've decided to make it an actual Halloween festival instead of a Harvest festival." Beetlejuice said. Miss Simms nodded and looked around.

"The children all seemed to want something a little more...scary this year. We decided to allow them to put in a haunted house and a few more games. You're daughters contributed a lot." She said and smiled down at Kiera and Gwen. Lydia and Beetlejuice couldn't help but swell with pride at their daughters. "Mrs. Juice, could I speak with you for a moment?" Miss Simms asked. Lydia cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course Miss Simms." She said and walked with the teacher outside of the school. "What can I help you with?"

"Of course we've all heard about your...accident." She started and Lydia immediately narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, what about my accident?"

"Well, I didn't want to bring anything up around your children, but Kiera seems to be acting a little withdrawn since then. I was just curious if everything was all right at your home." She said in a sickly sweet voice. Lydia felt rage build up inside of her.

"What exactly are you suggesting Miss Simms?" She asked, her voice icy cold.

"I just know that something like that can change a person." She said shrugging.

"Miss Simms, yes, I was a little distraught for a few days after the accident. Who wouldn't be? I almost drowned. However, I pulled myself up and focused on my children. Now if you have anything else to say I would suggest we set up a formal meeting and not do this at a family gathering." Lydia said and turned on her heel, her black skirts flying out magnificently behind her.

Lydia's temper didn't stop when she returned to Beetlejuice. He looked at her, but didn't say anything, just reached out to grab her hand and found it not there. He looked down to see that she was turning translucent.

"Babes, cool your jets."

"What?" She hissed turning to him.

"Emotions can cause you to...change. You need to calm yourself before everyone notices that they can walk straight through you." He said in a low whisper. Lydia looked down to see that she could see through her hand. She started to panic, but Beetlejuice looked at her. "Take a few breaths and you'll calm down." He said. She did and slowly she began to become solid again.

"What's happening Beej?" She asked, terrified.

"Kiera, why don't you take your sister through the Haunted House and we'll meet you at the end." He said. Kiera nodded and grabbed Gwen's arm tugging her away. Beetlejuice took Lydia's hand and took her to a corner of the school yard where there wasn't anyone around.

"Emotions can cause your powers to go haywire, especially before you learn to control them. It happens to everyone, but whenever you get that tingly feeling all over calm yourself down. That's the tell tale sign that you're going invisible." Lydia nodded and felt herself crumbling.

"I don't know if I can do this Beej. It's so hard and the girls keep telling me that I'm cold whenever I hug them." She said miserably.

"They'll get used to it. You don't have much of a choice Lyds. You'll see that it will get easier and easier. Soon you won't even think about it. Right now you're just learning. I think it would be a good idea if you worked with Adam and Barbara a little bit during the day and then we can work at night after the kids go to bed." Lydia nodded and Beetlejuice gave her a small kiss.

"Okay Beej, I'll start tomorrow." She said, feeling better a little better and gave a small smile.

"The sooner you get the hang of it, the easier it will be to get back to our normal lives." He said and kissed her hand. Lydia smiled and nodded giving a big sigh.

"Good, now let's go see if our kids did a good enough job at the Haunted House. This is a good night remember?" He said. Lydia smiled and they walked back to the games to enjoy the night with their children.


	6. Practice

Okay so forgive me for killing off Lydia. I had my reasons which you'll start to see as the story continues. And forgive me for making her kind of mean, but she'd just died! I know this story started off pretty dark and it'll stay that way for a little bit longer. Keep with me on this one, things are starting to work their way through.

Please review and let me know your thoughts. Good or bad I don't care, I just want to know.

Keegan Eavan

* * *

Barbara looked at the woman she thought of as her own daughter. Her skin now had a blue hue to it, making her pale skin even paler. She had come to ask them if they could teach her own to use her new powers. Lydia was sitting on the couch, her head downcast and looking miserable.

"Will you help me?" Lydia asked.

"Oh of course we will." Barbara said sitting down next to her. Lydia gave a small smile and nodded. Adam clapped his hands and smiled.

"Let's get started." He said and winked at Barbara. Lydia spent the next two hours concentrating on controlling how and when she becomes translucent and how to control her emotions. She had to think hard about what she was doing and by the time she had to go pick up Kiera and Gwen she felt exhausted.

"Do you think Mom will ever be the same?" Gwen asked as they waited for Lydia to pick them up. Kiera looked at her little sister who was sitting next to her, dangling her legs off the bench. She wanted to say yes, that their mother would go back to normal, laughing and playing with them. She wanted her mother back too, but she shrugged.

"I don't know Gwenny. I hope so, I miss her."

"Me too." Gwen said and looked up to see their mother's new car driving up. She sighed and climbed into the car.

"How was your day Girls?" Lydia asked.

"Fine." Kiera said and looked away. Lydia's heart broke as she saw her daughter's pull away from her. She felt a wave of guilt wash over her as she saw how miserable they were since she'd been dead. She made a decision right there that she was going to snap out of her funk that she'd been in and go back to what was really important and that was her family. She drove home and when Kiera and Gwen got out of the car she swept them up into a big hug and kissed them until they started giggling.

"Mom, we're outside." Kiera said laughing, trying to be embarrassed.

"Come on, what do you two want to do?" She asked holding their hands in her own.

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked looking at her mother with her big blue eyes.

"I mean that whatever you two want to do, we'll do it. I know that I've been a little... different lately, but that's all going to change. I am going to be my old self again and it starts now." She said.

Kiera and Gwen looked at each other and smiled and hugged their mother again. They had their old mom back and they loved it.

"Let's go to the park." Gwen said excitedly.

"Okay, go upstairs and get out of your school clothes and into some play clothes and we'll go." She said. She laughed when she saw her daughters race up the stairs.

During the past few weeks Lydia had forgotten how much fun it was to just hang out with her daughters. They played catch in the early November air at the park. Lydia laid down a blanket and laid down. Gwen and Kiera laid down next to her and they stared up at the clouds.

"What does that one look like?" Lydia asked pointing up. Kiera and Gwen looked at it, trying to figure it out.

"It looks like a crocodile." Kiera said.

"No it doesn't, it looks like a bunny." Gwen said. Lydia looked at each of them and smiled. She didn't know how long they laid there staring at the clouds, but it was one of the best afternoons she'd ever spent.

When they finally got back home Beetlejuice was already home and relaxing in the living room.

"There you guys are." He said when they walked into the door.

"We went to the park Dad, it was so much fun." Gwen said hopping on her father's lap. He let out a grunt then smiled and hugged her.

"Why don't you two go upstairs and get yourselves warmed up and I'll make you some hot chocolate." Lydia said.

"With marshmallows?" Gwen asked. Lydia smiled and nodded. They raced up the stairs and Lydia took Gwen's place in Beetlejuice's lap.

"I take it you had a good day?" He asked giving her a kiss.

"Yes, we had a good day." She said and laid her head against his chest.

"Good, I told you that it was just a phase. Did you go to Adam and Barbara?'

"Yes, we just concentrated on controlling going invisible and I think I got the hang of it."

"Yeah? Show me." Beetlejuice said. Lydia hopped up off of his lap and closed her eyes. She felt the tingling feeling and she disappeared. "Good job Babes. Tonight, we'll work on making things appear." Lydia went back to being solid and smiled. She went into the kitchen to make hot chocolate for Kiera and Gwen.

For the first time in a few weeks Kiera felt like she had her mom back. She laid in bed and hoped that she wouldn't go back to being sad. She couldn't stand it when she saw either of her parents upset. She always saw her dad get angry, that wasn't a new thing and he was quick to temper. Gwen was the same way, she always would blow her top. Kiera was a lot like her mother and they were the level headed ones, keeping everything calm. Whenever she would see her mother upset Kiera would feel shocked and uncomfortable. She smiled and closed her eyes drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

"Boy Lyds, you're a quick learner." Beetlejuice said, impressed. Lydia had just made a book appear out of thin air.

"It's getting easier." Lydia said and set the book down. Beetlejuice nodded and made the book disappear again.

"I will just continue to get easier until it's second nature. I think that's good for now. Just keep working on it and soon you'll be as good as I am Babes." He said.

"I think I'm getting used to it now Beej. I'm feeling better and it doesn't bother me so much." Lydia said when she laid down in bed.

"It's amazing how fast you get accustomed to it. You just have to be careful about when you use your new talents. The kids can't find out."

"I know Beej, I'm the one that told you that remember?" She said and smiled. He rolled his eyes and turned out the lights. Lydia snuggled next to her husband, her cool skin against his own.

Lydia kept going to Adam and Barbara during the times that her father and Delia were going to be out of the house. Now that her father was working on some new condominiums and Delia was spending more time in New York it was easier for Lydia to see Adam and Barbara without giving them any warnings that something was wrong. Since she'd been practicing while the girls were in school and at night after they went to bed Lydia found that she had a particular talent for this and she caught on quickly.

"Okay Lyds, final tests." Adam said. Lydia stood at attention in the middle of that attic.

"Give me your best shot." She said, her eyebrow raised in challenge.

"Turn into a dog, then make a painting appear and then turn invisible." Adam said and Lydia did every one with flawless detail. Every time there was something unique that was only her. The dog was small and black with blue eyes, the painting had a black frame.

Barbara was proud of her, but it was sad at the same time that Lydia excelled in something that she shouldn't have even known about for decades. She sighed and smiled when Lydia turned back to her solid form.

"Very good Lyds, I think you've definitely got the hang of it now." She said.

"Yeah practicing with you guys and Beej has helped a lot. I better go, I promised the girls that I'd take them shopping for new outfits for Thanksgiving after school." Lydia said and gave them each a small hug before she headed out.

"What do you think Mom?" Gwen said holding up a bright red dress. Lydia studied it and shook her head.

"I don't think bright red is your color, but something more darker. I think you should stick with dark red, dark green or dark blue to bring out those pretty eyes of yours." She said. Gwen nodded and went back looking. Lydia walked to where Kiera was studying a dress.

"What do you think Mom?" She asked. Lydia lifted the black and white dress. The skirt was white with black polka dots that was layered and the top was simple black with a polka dot trim at the top.

"Very cute Kier. We'll get you a black cardigan so you won't get cold and you'll be great." She said. Kiera smiled and nodded to find a sweater. Gwen came up holding a kimono style dress with a dark blue, black and white paisley design.

"What about you Mom?" Gwen said looking up at Lydia. Lydia smiled down at her daughter.

"Do you think I should get something too?"

"Yes." Kiera and Gwen said together. Lydia laughed and they walked over to the women's section.

"You look great Babes." Beetlejuice said. Lydia studied her profile in the mirror. She chose a simple teal v-neck dress with a black lace overlay. It gathered together just below the bust with a beaded medallion in the center.

"Thanks Beej, the girls insisted on it." She said.

"And of course you couldn't let them down." He said smiling. Lydia smiled and shook her head.

"Ready for Thanksgiving dinner?" She asked grabbing her purse.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Beetlejuice said and sighed. Lydia rolled her eyes and yanked him out of the bedroom as she called for the girls to head to the Deetz's for dinner.


	7. Addicted

I'm trying my hardest to keep things moving at a fairly fast pace. I know where I'm going, just kind of getting stuck on how I'm going to get there. I keep working on it though so please review and tell me what you think!

Keegan Eavan

* * *

"You're looking much better Pumpkin." Charles said when he opened the door and gave his daughter a hug.

"I'm feeling better Dad." She said and smiled. He took a step back to examine her.

"You still look a little too pale and you're a little cold, but you're better." He said. Lydia just kept smiling knowing that she would never get that pink, living color or warmth again and she was okay with it now. It was amazing how fast she got over it when she realized that her children were more important than that.

"Why don't you girls go see if you can help your grandma with anything." Lydia said. Kiera and Gwen nodded and ran into the kitchen. Lydia rolled her eyes and winked as she followed her girls in before they created more of a mess then help.

"Is she doing better?" Charles asked Beetlejuice when Lydia left.

"She's gotten over the shock of it for the most part. She just realized how much it was affecting Kier and Gwen and she pushed all of the other things aside." Beetlejuice said. Charles nodded and sat down in front of the television. "You know, I think I'll go say hello to Adam and Barbara real quick then I'll join you." He said and when Charles nodded he walked upstairs.

"Beetlejuice, is everyone else here?" Barbara said. Beetlejuice nodded and sat down on their couch.

"Yeah, the girls and Lyds are downstairs in the kitchen."

"Oh Dear, I better get down there before we end up eating...nothing." She said and walked out.

"I just wanted a quick update on how Lyds is doing." Beetlejuice said to Adam.

"She's doing really good now. Almost as good as you are really." Adam said pushing up his glasses.

"I always new my Babes had it in her." He said smiling.

"As soon as she was able to focus it was like the doors were opened for her."

"I'll keep her practicing while the girls are in bed so she'll get used to it and during the day I want her practicing as well. It will help her a lot in getting the house cleaned so she can focus more on her photography and painting. She's gotten out of it for a while and needs to get back in. She's so talented." Beetlejuice said and Adam nodded in agreement.

"Well we better head downstairs, I hear the football game starting." Adam said and they both disappeared through the door and out of the attic.

Lydia sipped her glass of wine while she watched Delia working on the turkey. The girls were helping mash the potatoes without trying to get it all over the place. Lydia tried not to, but her nose wrinkled when she saw how dried out the turkey was. No matter how much Delia tried, she just couldn't cook.

Barbara saw the look on Lydia's face and nudged her. When Lydia looked at her with one eyebrow raised Barbara blinked and the turkey plumped back up. Lydia had to throw her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"I was wondering why Delia's cooking suddenly got so much better." She whispered. Barbara just smiled at her.

"You try." She whispered back. Lydia waited for Delia to turn her back and she blinked and whipped the mashed potatoes until they were perfect.

"What are you two laughing at?" Delia asked. Lydia just smiled and shook her head and walked out.

Beetlejuice watched as Lydia came out, a bright smile on her face. He smiled at her and winked.

"What are you winking at?" She asked raising her eyebrow. Beetlejuice just shook his head and waited until she sat down next to him.

"You're getting the hang of it now. It's fun isn't it?" He whispered in her ear. Lydia's smiled broadened and she nodded her head. She shot a glance over at her father and Adam, but they were both concentrating on the game.

"I could get used to this." She whispered back. Beetlejuice nodded knowingly at his wife. He remembered when he first got his powers. It was like a light went on in himself. He could do things he never thought he'd be able to do and until he met Lydia, he'd abused them a lot. After he came back to her he rarely used his powers anymore. It was strange, but he didn't feel the need to snap and make something appear or make someone disappear. He never would have thought that he would have seen the day when it didn't matter much to him.

Lydia looked at the mess in the living room that Kiera and Gwen made after drawing and playing. She was about to call them to tell them to come and pick up their mess when she stopped and smiled. All she had to do is blink and the mess was gone. She didn't have to worry about the girls giving her looks and grumbling as they picked up. She knew that she shouldn't and that they needed to learn about discipline, but it was so easy to just clean it up herself. She looked at it and blinked and everything was set in its place.

She had so much time to herself now that she didn't have to do any more chores that she spent almost all of her time painting and taking photographs again. She hadn't been able to do any of it for so long she had forgotten how much she loved it.

"Lyds, I know you're having a good time with these new tricks, but keep it to a minimum around the girls." Beetlejuice said.

"I know that Beej, I only do it when they're out of the room." Lydia said as she changed herself into her nightgown.

"Just be careful Babes, that's all I'm saying." He said when she looked at him. Lydia sighed and nodded.

"I'll be careful." She said in a dull voice. He just gave a half grin as she bounced into bed.

"Too much of a good thing, just remember." He said and laughed when she rolled her eyes.

"Jeez, what am I? Ten? Give me a break Beej. I know what I'm doing." She said. Lydia knew that she had everything under control. She didn't need Beetlejuice to constantly remind her how he'd abused his powers for so long and he'd just now reformed. She wasn't like him and she knew that it wasn't going to happen to her.

"What do you mean you lost my prints?" Lydia asked at the drugstore. The girl behind the counter barely glanced at her and kept filing her nails down.

"Did I stutter?" She asked. Lydia just blinked at her. Who did she think she was, just some minimum wage high school student who worked part time. She needed those prints to work on her sketches and now she said that they're lost? Lydia looked around, the girls were over by the toys and no one else was around. Lydia looked at the girl and heard a satisfying rip. The girl looked up in horror and felt around her back to find that her pants had split down the middle and Lydia watched as she turned almost purple from embarrassment.

"That was strange." Kiera said from behind Lydia, startling her.

"What was?"

"I didn't see the lady bend over." She said. Lydia would have to be cursed with a brilliant child.

"She probably was wearing pants that were four sizes too small for her and they just gave out." She said. Kiera looked at her mother and Lydia saw a flicker of suspicion in her daughter's eyes, but it vanished as fast as it had come.

"You're probably right Mom." She said.

Before she knew it Lydia was making things appear and disappear without much more thought. Gwen walked into the kitchen and saw a pot of spaghetti instantly cooked and she blinked.

"Whoa, what was that?" She asked. Lydia spun around and looked at her daughter, her eyes wide.

"What was what?" She asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Mom, it's cooked." She said pointing to the spaghetti.

"Oh that? I just poured it out right before you came in, something must have blocked it." She said shrugging. Gwen looked again, but she knew what she saw. She looked up and nodded at her mother.

"I guess so." She said and walked back out of the room. Lydia let out a slow breath. Beetlejuice was right, she had gotten careless and she couldn't have her children seeing strange things. She promised herself that she would only use her power when the girls were at school and only for cleaning, that's it.


	8. 13 Years

Can you believe it? 13 years those two have been married. Hard to believe. Well this is pretty much a light and fun little chapter, break up some of the drama and there is more drama to come.

Review and let me know what you're thinking!

Keegan Eavan

* * *

"Can you believe that we've been married for thirteen years now?" Lydia asked laying her head on Beetlejuice's shoulder. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Hard to believe Babes, but I'm loving every minute of it."

"Me too." She said. "What do you think we should do for our anniversary?" Beetlejuice thought about it for a few moments.

"You know I'd love to just have a nice dinner. Just the two of us, we can drop the kids off with your folks." Lydia smiled and cupped his cheek.

"That can definitely be arranged." She said and giggled when Beetlejuice practically leapt on her.

"How come you and Uncle Adam never come over to our house? We have a very nice house." Gwen asked Barbara sitting down on the floor in front of her. Barbara looked a the little girl, her dark eyes wide and innocent. It broke her heart that she couldn't have her own child and she could only see Lydia's if they came over.

"Oh Gwenny, it's complicated. We have a...condition." She said. Gwen just looked at her and shrugged.

"You guys seem healthy enough." Gwen said. Barbara just patted her white blonde hair and Gwen got up to go into the kitchen to get a snack.

"The girls are growing up so fast." Barbara said to Adam. He patted her shoulder and sighed..

"Yes they are, it's not going to be too much longer before our excuses won't cut it anymore." He said.

"I know, Gwen just asked me again and I had to brush her off." Barbara said and looked over at him. Adam wished that they had been able to have children, but they couldn't and it broke his heart.

Lydia sat across from Beetlejuice and took a sip of wine. He had taken her to their favorite restaurant for their anniversary. He reached out to take her hand and smiled.

"It almost seems too good to be true, that we'll stay like this forever and be together forever." She said and rubbed his wedding ring with her finger.

"It's like a dream, we're living...sort of, the American dream. Have two beautiful girls, make a good living, have a good house. We were meant to be together, it just took a little bit of time." He said and Lydia nodded.

"It is a dream Beej and we're never going to wake up from it. You know it's going to be Christmas soon. The girls deserve something really great, they've been wonderful this year."

"They're always wonderful Lyds, but you're right they need something great." Beetlejuice said. Lydia smiled widely and looked at him. It took him a second before he knew what she was thinking.

"You want to go shopping for them don't you?" He said smiling at her. Lydia just smiled broader at him. "If that's what you want to do Babes, then that's what we'll do."

"It's not just that Beej, what I want is to call Barbara and Adam and ask the girls to stay the night and we'll go into the city for the night and shop tomorrow morning." She said. Beetlejuice sat back in his chair and smiled.

"I knew I loved you for a reason, sounds like a plan." Lydia and Beetlejuice drove off after giving Barbara and Adam a quick call telling them they'd be back in the morning.

"You mean Mom and Dad aren't coming home tonight?" Kiera asked Barbara.

"I'm sorry sweetie, not tonight. They've decided that they're going to head into the city, so you guys will be with us for the night."

"Awesome." Kiera and Gwen said smiling. "We never get to spend hardly any time with you guys." Barbara couldn't help but smile at the little girls.

"This was a great idea Lyds. It's nice to get out of town." Beetlejuice said as he walked out of the bathroom, a towel slung low on his hips. Lydia looked over at her husband and smiled. She loved it when he just came out of the shower, his pale skin glistening and his white blonde hair slicked back.

"It is nice, but I miss the girls." Lydia said wrapping the sheets around her. Beetlejuice nodded and sat down next to her.

"Me too, but I'm sure they're having a great time with Adam and Barbara. They adore those two." Lydia nodded and sighed, laying her head on his shoulder.

"You have no idea how happy I am that you married me all those years ago. Without you I wouldn't have anything. I love you so much." Beetlejuice knew he'd never get tired of hearing those words from her.

"Same here Babes, I love you too."

The next morning Lydia was ready to go shopping for her girls. She did love New York in the winter. The white snow swirling around the city streets and grey buildings and the window displays that were put up made the entire city feel festive. They strolled down the streets walking into different stores and picking out things for their girls.

"Lydia? Beej?" A voice called from behind them. They turned to see Charles and Delia walking up to greet them.

"Hi Dad, Delia." Lydia said walking up to give them a hug.

"What are you two doing here?" He asked.

"Lydia decided last night that she wanted to come into the city and go shopping for the girls and you know what Lydia wants, Lydia gets." Beetlejuice said easily holding the bags filled with everything from clothes to toys.

"We were going to do a little shopping as well since Delia sold her sculpture." Charles said smiling.

"That's fantastic Delia, which sculpture did you sell?" Lydia asked shifting some of the bags so she could hug her beaming step mother again.

"My first one, the lion. A couple wanted it in their entry way to shock people when they walked in." Delia said. Beetlejuice just gave his charming smile and Delia rolled her eyes. "You might have been the model, but it was still my sculpture."

"Whatever you say Delia." He said.

"Well how long are you two going to be in the city?" Charles asked.

"What did you have in mind?" Beetlejuice asked.

"I was thinking we could have some dinner together and celebrate your anniversary a little bit more and then we can head back home tonight." Beetlejuice and Lydia looked at each other.

"Sure, we'll just drop off our packages at our hotel room and meet you..."

"Angel's work for you guys?"

"Sure, we'll meet you there at seven." Beetlejuice said and they started heading back to their hotel.

"Are you guys having a good time?" Lydia had called the girls when they got back to their room.

"Yeah Mom, Gwen is helping Aunt Barbara make dinner and I'm helping Adam with his model." Kiera said over the phone.

"That's great. We're glad that you two are having a good time. Listen, we met up with your grandma and grandpa so we're going to have dinner and then we'll be home." Lydia said.

"When will you be back?"

"Around nine or ten. You two should be in bed when we come and get you."

"Okay." Kiera sounded a little disappointed.

"Don't worry, we'll have all day tomorrow to start getting ready for Christmas. What do you say if we put up the tree and start decorating?"

"That sounds good."

"Good, now put your sister on the phone so I can talk to her." Lydia said and smiled.

"The girls okay?" Beetlejuice asked.

"Yeah, they're having a good time." Lydia said hanging up the phone. Beetlejuice held out his hand for her and they walked out to meet up with Charles and Delia at the restaurant.

"It's hard to believe that thirteen years have gone by." Delia said shaking her head. She still couldn't believe that her son in law was a ghost that was over six hundred years old and at one time almost destroyed their family. It seemed like all of that was a distant memory now.

"I know, it seems like just yesterday Beej showed up at my apartment straight from the waiting room." Lydia said wistfully.

"You shocked the hell out of me Babes when you brought Kiera into that room. I would have never in a million years thought that you would have had a baby." He said. Lydia smiled and nodded.

"Now she's so grown up, and Gwenny too. It won't be much longer before they'll want to date and go out." Beetlejuice didn't particularly like the sound of that. His daughters going out with boys? That was something they'd have to discuss later.

"Well you've got a while before that starts happening. In the meantime they're dolls and you two should be very proud." Charles said lifting his glass of wine.

"We are." Beetlejuice said. Lydia clinked her glass with his and smiled. They didn't end up leaving the city until close to nine that night, the trunk filled with gifts for the girls.


	9. Lucky

This is just a glimpse of how a few others see Beej and Lyds ;) Enjoy and Review!!

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Kiera and Gwen walked in from playing outside in the snow, their pale skin red from the cold.

"Mom where are you?" Gwen asked, her teeth chattering. Lydia walked in the living room and stopped.

"Did you two just lay in the snow for an hour?" She said, their skin actually colder than hers. "Get your jackets off and I'll start a hot bath for you." She said.

"Yes Mom." They said together. Lydia walked upstairs and turned the hot water on. She put her hand underneath the running water and felt the hot water run over her cold hands. Kiera and Gwen stood at the doorway.

"Come on Gwen you come in here and Kiera can go into the master bath." She said. Kiera lit up when she knew she heard that she was going to be in her parent's bath. It was so big, it was like a swimming pool. Lydia walked out of the room, Kiera following her. Lydia started the other bath and felt the water turn hot as the tub filled up.

"Isn't it going to sting?" Kiera asked. She looked at the steam rising from the water and rubbed her cold arms.

"Yes, it will sting a little bit, but you two need to get warmed up before you catch a cold. What were you doing out there anyway?"

"We were building a snow man and then a few of the kids got together and we were having a snow ball fight."

"Yeah? Who was out there?" Lydia sat down and Kiera put some bubbles in the bath.

"Melissa, Meghan, Tristan, Stephanie, Erin, Mark and Brian." Kiera said counting her fingers.

"I haven't seen the girls in quite a bit. Why don't you invite them over since it's winter break."

"Like for a slumber party?" Kiera asked brightening up. Lydia looked at her daughter and smiled.

"Sure, we can do a slumber party. We'll talk about it tonight when your father gets home." She said.

"Okay Mom." Kiera said.

"Good, now get in the tub and get warmed up. I'm going to check on your sister and when you come down I'll have something warm for you." She said and rubbed her daughter's wet hair.

Lydia walked down the hall and opened the bathroom door. Gwen was in the tub, her eyes closed shut as she sat in the water.

"It's hot Mom." She said opening one of her eyes.

"You'll get used to it. I was just talking to your sister and she's going to invite some friends for a slumber party so why don't you invite a couple of your friends as well." Gwen opened up her other eye to look at her mother.

"Really? Okay Mom." She said smiling. Lydia smiled at her youngest daughter, her dark blue eyes sparkling.

"Good, now get warmed up and come back downstairs." Lydia said and left the bathroom. She made her way down the stairs and saw the pile of wet clothes that her girls had left for her. She looked at them and they disappeared into the closet, fresh and dry. She looked at the coffee table and snapped her fingers. A platter appeared with a teapot filled with hot tea, milk, honey and some sandwiches on the table. Lydia sat down on the couch and relaxed.

"Wow Mom, you did all this?" Kiera asked walking down. Her sleek black hair was wet and brushed back. She had put on her pajamas and slippers to stay warm.

"Yes, now come down here beside me and I'll get you some tea while we wait for your sister." She said. Kiera sat down next to her mother and watched her pour the hot tea and put a little milk and honey in it, just like she liked it. She took a sip and felt the hot tea slide all the way down her throat and into her tummy warming her up even more.

"I'm all warm now Mom." Gwen said as she hopped down the stairs.

"Good, now come sit on the other side of me. I've got some tea for you too." She said. Gwen sat next to her mother and took the cup and saucer taking a sip. Lydia ran her fingers through Gwen's hair and began to braid it. Gwen sat straight backed, sipping her tea and eating her sandwich while Lydia braided. When she finished she turned to Kiera who turned around so Lydia could braid her hair too.

"You girls feel better?" She asked. The girls nodded and snuggled next to Lydia. Lydia smiled and grabbed a blanket, putting around all of them. She put her arms around them and they settled in to watch a movie.

Beetlejuice walked in and shook off the snow that was pouring down. He turned to see his wife and daughters asleep on the couch, a platter empty in front of them. He smiled and blinked the platter away. Each of the girls had their heads on Lydia's shoulders and Lydia's head had fallen on top of Gwen's soft white hair. He walked up and gently ran his hand down Lydia's cheek.

Lydia felt a cool hand touch her face and opened her eyes. She looked up to see Beetlejuice and smiled. She smiled and gently lifted herself out from between her daughters. The girls didn't even stir as the snuggled together, pulling the blankets closer. They walked up the stairs so they wouldn't disturb the girls and let them sleep.

"Have a good day?" He asked taking off his business suit to climb into a pair of jeans and a shirt. Lydia sat on the bed and watched her husband change.

"Yeah, it was a good day. How was yours?" She asked.

"Good a lot of people coming out to get Christmas cars. Sometimes I just can't believe that all those rich snobs will brave the snow to get the hottest new car for a present." He said. Lydia nodded and yawned. He just smiled at his wife and sat down next to her.

"I told the girls that they can invite a few of their friends for a slumber party. What do you think?" Lydia asked.

"I think it sounds great, they haven't done something like that since Kiera's birthday. We better go back and wake them up or else they won't be able to sleep tonight." Beetlejuice said. Lydia nodded and got up to walk downstairs.

"Can we get some scary movies to watch?" Kiera asked when they were at the store picking up things for their slumber party. Lydia looked down at her daughter.

"No, no scary movies. I don't want Gwen and her friends to get scared. The scariest you can go is the Nightmare before Christmas." Lydia said. Kiera pouted a little bit then shrugged. They walked around the store picking up lots of party food. Kiera and Gwen knew that it was a real treat to actually get soda and junk food. Normally it wasn't allowed or very little of it.

"Lydia, hello." Lydia turned to see one of her neighbors.

"Hello Molly." Lydia said smiling.

"Getting ready for all those girls to be over at your house? You and BJ must be saints, I'll never know how you do it." She said shaking her head. "Melissa and Meghan are looking forward to it."

"We have our special ways." Lydia said easily, smiling at her friend.

"You must have some sort of secret. I end up pulling my hair out when the girls ask me if they can have a sleep over."

"We have magic powers." Lydia said wiggling her fingers and making Molly laugh.

"Well whatever you do, you'll have to tell me. I don't know if I can go through another night of no sleeping and high pitched laughter when the girls are over." Lydia just kept smiling at her friend. It really didn't matter to her and Beetlejuice if they got sleep or not. They didn't really need it to function in a normal day. It did help to keep their energy built up, but that's about it.

"Okay girls," Lydia said a few nights later when all of the girls started to arrive, their sleeping bags in hand. "We've got some dinner and then you can watch movies and we'll get some dessert for you."

"What's for dinner Mrs. Juice?" Carol, one of Gwen's friends asked.

"We've got some chicken noodle soup to keep you girls warm and then for dessert there's sugar cookies that you girls will be able to graduate." Lydia said. All of the girls nodded in approval and set their things down to head into the kitchen.

Beetlejuice walked in to the sound of giggling girls. He took off his heavy coat dusted with snow and walked into the kitchen.

"What's all this?" He asked with an easy smile. About then girls and Lydia turned their heads to him.

"Hello Mr. Juice." The girls said in unison. Lydia just smiled at him and walked around the girls.

"Hello girls." He said. Each one of them had their eyes riveted to him and it was a little disconcerting.

"Come on, lets go into the other room and give the girls some time." Lydia said taking his arm.

"Your dad is so dreamy." He heard one of the girls say.

"Gross Stephanie, that's my dad." Kiera said. Lydia had to slap her hand over her mouth before she bursted out laughing. If Beetlejuice could have blushed, then he would have.

"Great, I've got little girls with a crush on me." He mumbled.

"Well you have a big girl with a crush on you too." Lydia said making him smile.

"Sure Babes, I've got one on ya too."

"Good, that's the way I like it." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

When the girls came into the living room to watch a movie Beetlejuice and Lydia sat down on the couch, holding hands. All of the girls had settled themselves on the floor, already in their pajamas.

"Well we better leave these girls to their games. Kiera, Gwen we'll be right upstairs if you need us." Lydia said as she and Beetlejuice walked up.

"Okay Mom." They called. As soon as they heard the door shut Melissa turned to Kiera.

"Your parents sure are cuddly. I never see my parents kiss or hold hands." She said and Meghan nodded in agreement.

"Really? Mom and Dad are always doing that. I can't remember when they haven't can you Gwenny?" Kiera asked and Gwen shook her head.

"You guys are so lucky. Your parents are still married and do that. I think almost everyone else's parents are divorced or don't talk to each other." Stephanie said. "My parents sleep in different beds." She confessed. Kiera never thought that her parents were different from anyone else, but as she looked around at her friends she realized how lucky she was. All of the faces on her friends were sad, some almost in tears as they thought about how sad their parents were. Kiera couldn't remember a time when her parents fought over something serious. Her mother might complain when she had to pick up something, but they never screamed at each other.

They always seemed to be touching each other, holding hands or kissing. It embarrassed Kiera most of the time when they were out at the park or the store and she would see her parents holding hands, but she saw how the other girls looked at it and she felt lucky.

"I guess Gwenny and I are lucky. Mom and Dad seem pretty happy."

"Not to mention they look like movie stars." Stepahanie said. "Your mom is so pretty and your dad..."

"STEPHANIE!" Kiera said putting her hands over her ears. Everyone started giggling as they launched into another game.


	10. Christmas Disaster

I knew that I had to write this chapter way back when I was in the middle of writing The Devil's in the Details. This has been building up since then and I knew that it had to come to terms. I love these characters so much that it broke my heart just writing it and I knew what was going to happen. It took me a while to figure out how and when I was going to do it. I hope that you can see why when you read it.

I would appreciate any sort of feedback you can give me. I would like to know your thoughts on the story so far.

Keegan Eavan

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"Merry Christmas Grandma!" Kiera and Gwen called when Delia opened the door. 

"Merry Christmas Kiera, Gwen." Delia said and hugged the girls. She kept the door open for Beetlejuice and Lydia who had their hands filled with packages wrapped with brightly colored paper.

"Merry Christmas BJ, Lydia." She said once they struggled inside the house.

"You too Delia." Lydia said setting the presents down underneath the bright Christmas tree. "You certainly have the place decorated." She said looking around. Delia just shrugged and took Lydia's coat from her.

"Barbara did a lot of the work, made everything fairly traditional." She said a slight hint of disapproval in her voice. Lydia just smiled and looked around. The entire room was filled with reds, greens and golds. It was traditional, but festive and the girls were enjoying the atmosphere. She heard some Christmas music being played softly and couldn't help but think that maybe they had entered some sort of Norman Rockwell painting.

"Merry Christmas Pumpkin." Charles said giving his daughter a warm hug. She squeezed her father back. "It must be really cold outside, you're freezing." He said letting go. Lydia gave her father a sad smile and nodded. She wondered if it was time to let her father and Delia know that she was really dead. She felt like there had been enough time for them to accept it, but not now. It was Christmas and things were supposed to be fun and happy. She would tell them soon, but she'd have to discuss it with Beetlejuice first.

"When can we open presents Grandpa?" Gwen asked looking at all of the packages with her name on them. She and Kiera had pulled all of theirs out to look at them.

"After dinner Gwenny, just like always." He called. Gwen stuck her bottom lip out and started to tremble, but Beetlejuice walked over and swept her up in his arms until she started to giggle.

"Okay, okay Dad. Let me down!" She called when she was above his head.

"I don't know little miss Guinevere Juice, are you going to keep whining?" He asked. Gwen smiled and shook her head.

"All right Miss, but if I catch you peaking at your presents I'll pick you up and spin you until your dizzy." He said, a smile on his face. He gently put her down to the ground and she sat down on the couch next to Charles to watch the Christmas special. Kiera looked up at her father and smiled.

"You think you can just smile and get away with it too Missy?" He asked and hauled her up above his head. Kiera giggled, her black hair falling down in his face.

"Dad, I wasn't peaking I swear." She said laughing. Beetlejuice looked up at his oldest daughter. He saw the brightness in her soft green eyes.

"Okay, but I'll be keeping my eyes on you too." He said and brought her too him and hugged her. "Love you Kiers." He whispered. She squeezed his neck.

"Love you too Dad." She said. Lydia smiled when Beetlejuice put Kiera down, she went over and hugged herself to Lydia's side. Lydia bent down and kissed her daughter's hair and squeezed her arm.

"Why don't you go in the kitchen with your Aunt Barbara and help her with dinner." She asked, giving Kiera a slight push in the back.

"Okay Mom." Kiera walked into the kitchen. Lydia walked over to Beetlejuice and sat down next to him.

"Whatcha thinkin' about Babes?" He asked. Lydia just sighed and smiled.

"We have the best children in the whole world." She said. Beetlejuice laughed and kissed her on the temple.

"That we do." He said.

"Mom, Aunt Barbara needs your help." Kiera said walking out. Lydia walked into the kitchen to see Barbara with her apron on leaning over the oven.

"What do you need Barbara?" Lydia asked and juiced herself a glass of wine.

"Nothing really, I just wanted Kiera to go back out into the living room so I can zap the rest of this food without her seeing." Barbara said and snapped a couple pies on the counter. Lydia smiled and sipped her wine as she watched the food appear on the counter.

"That is one of the nicest things about being dead." She said. "That and not having to clean." Barbara laughed and leaned against the counter.

"I didn't discover that little talent for a while. When I did, I knew it was like the housewife lottery." Lydia laughed and shook her head.

"I'm just glad I don't have to do it anymore. I hate cleaning and now with the snap of my fingers it's done and I can focus on the girls, Beej and my art." Lydia said.

"Your girls must be happy that they have so much time to spend with you." Barbara said. "They enjoy it and so do I. They really are wonderful children."

"You were blessed Lydia, both you and Beetlejuice are very blessed." Barbara said. Even though she had accepted him over seven years ago she still couldn't believe that she liked him so much sometimes. He really had become part of the family and she adored the girls as well. "Well that's about it. Lets get this stuff in the dining room and we can have dinner before the girls go crazy looking at the gifts." Barbara said. Lydia grabbed a platter and headed out the door.

"Everything looks wonderful Barbara." Adam said checking out the platters filled with food. When everyone was seated and ready to dig in there was a soft knock at the door.

"I wonder who that can be?" Delia said throwing down her napkin.

"I'll get it Grandma." Kiera said and pushed herself away from the table.

"If it's carolers, just send them away." Delia called when Kiera left.

"Okay." She called back and opened the door. There was an elderly couple that stood waiting in the snow. The woman had her steel gray hair piled on top of her head. She was wearing a long mauve colored coat with some sort of dead white animal around her neck. The man had his salt and peppered hair sprinkled with snow, slicked back and he wore a long black coat, a plaid scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Can I help you?" Kiera asked politely.

"Oh will you look at her Robert. She has John's eyes." The woman said and grabbed her coat with her gloved hand. Kiera lifted an eyebrow and looked at them.

"Excuse me?" She asked, confused and a little scared of the couple.

"You're our son, John's daughter Pet." The woman said leaning down to pat her head.

"I think you have me confused with someone else. My father's name is BJ." Kiera said. The woman straightened up and looked at her husband.

"Is your mother's name Lydia Deetz?" The man asked. Kiera felt uncomfortable and shifted her stance.

"Yes." She said cautiously, looking from one to the other.

"Well then, your father is our son, not this BJ person." He said.

"MOM!" Kiera yelled. Lydia ran into the room followed by everyone else. Kiera ran to her mother and hugged herself to Lydia's side. Lydia looked at the people outside and her eyes narrowed.

"You." She said. She softly pried Kiera away from her and handed her over to Beetlejuice. Kiera wrapped herself around his side.

"What's wrong Lyds?" He asked holding Kiera.

"I'll take care of it. Get her out of the room." She said not looking back, but keeping her eyes on the people.

"If you need me I'll be in the other room." He said, his own eyes scanning the couple up and down, calculating. Lydia just nodded and waited until she head everyone walk out.

"What do you want?" She hissed, not allowing them to come inside the house.

"We came to see our granddaughter Lydia. You can't hide her from us." The woman said, her chest puffing out.

"She is not your granddaughter Myrtle." Lydia said low and dangerous.

"Oh yes she is. She has John's eyes, plus we've got a copy of her birth certificate and John's name is listed as the father." Robert said taking out a piece of paper and waving it in front of Lydia's face. She tore it from his grip and walked in between them, slamming the door behind her.

"She is not John's daughter, Robert. She stopped being his daughter when he ran out on me when I told him I was pregnant." She said and tore the copy of her daughter's birth certificate and throwing it in their face. Lydia was trying with every fiber of her being to not lose her anger completely. "You are not welcome here, if you ever try to contact my daughter again and tell her,"

"She already knows." Myrtle said, throwing her head up defiantly. Lydia looked at them, her jaw falling open in shock.

"You told her?"

"Yes, we told her that she was John's daughter."

"Get out." Lydia said so low they had to lean in to hear.

"What?" Robert asked.

"GET OUT!" She screamed.

"You can't talk to us like that Miss." Robert said taking a step toward her. Lydia began to shake with fury and felt herself pulsing with power.

"If you do not leave this town this instant you will regret it." She said.

"We do not have to do anything you say." Myrtle said. Lydia's restraint broke. She felt herself rising into the air, her hair whipping around her. She looked at Myrtle who was wearing a ratty old stole. With one blink she made the stole come alive and tighten itself around Myrtle's neck. She screamed and tried to throw the thing off of her. Lydia then turned to look at Robert. He was trying to help Myrtle and she blinked and the mink stole latched onto his neck, biting down. He screamed and toppled backwards. They scrambled back to their car in the snow.

"We will be back Lydia. Whatever parlor tricks you pulled were clever, but they won't last. You can't stop us from seeing our granddaughter. We have rights." Robert yelled more bravely since he was back in his car. Lydia looked at the car and made it start and take off down the road before he was finished talking. She slowly felt herself come down and touch the ground. She took a minute, breathing hard before she walked back into the house. Charles and Delia were in the living room while Barbara and Adam had taken Gwen up to the attic.

"What's going on Lydia?" Delia asked.

"Where's Kiera?" She asked.

"Beetlejuice took her into your old bedroom Pumpkin. What's going on?" Charles asked.

"I'll explain later, right now I have to see my baby." Lydia said over her shoulder as she turned and headed up the stairs to find her daughter. She opened her door to see her daughter clinging to Beetlejuice sobbing. Her back was shaking and her head buried in his chest.

Beetlejuice held his daughter while she cried. She didn't tell him what those people said to her, but it upset her enough to cry. He rubbed her back and rested his chin on her head while she cried. He looked up to see Lydia standing in the doorway, her hair wild and tears racing down her cheeks. She raced to the bed and threw her arms around Kiera.

Kiera felt her mother's soft hands on her back and looked up. Her eyes were blurry and bloodshot. She saw that her mother was crying too and she gave one big shudder and sniffed.

"Mama, those people, they said..." She started, but her mother stopped her.

"I know Baby, I know." She said, drying her daughter's tears with her hands.

"Was it...true?" She asked. Lydia didn't know what to do. She looked at Beetlejuice then back at Kiera. She felt a lump grow in her throat and sighed, tears slipping down her cheeks again and gave a little nod.

"Oh." Kiera said and crumbled again to Beetlejuice's chest. Lydia and Beetlejuice let her cry until she eventually fell into an exhausted sleep. Beetlejuice gently detached Kiera from him and pulled some of the blankets over her. Lydia grabbed his hand and they walked out to let Kiera sleep.

"What the hell did they say Lydia." Beetlejuice asked. Lydia ran her hand through her hair and wiped her tears away.

"They were John's parents and they told her...they told our baby..." Lydia said and felt the tears well up again.

"They told her." He finished and Lydia nodded. Beetlejuice had been angry before, but this fury surpassed even when Lydia was kidnaped. He grabbed Lydia and held her against him, calming her while she cried. He wanted to kill them, send them to the worst place he could think of. The only thing he could think of was that his little girl had her entire world shattered by two people she didn't even know and it broke his heart.

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I hope you all are enjoying the story so far. I'd like to know if you are and want to hear more!


	11. Truth

So, this was hard for me to write. Mostly because I've never been in this situation myself so I am not sure if Lydia, Beetlejuice and Kiera's reactions seem believable. I want to know what you think. Do they seem believable? I haven't heard much with this story and I would like to know your thoughts on it. I still have a lot more that's going to happen and I will continue to post them, but some encouraging words wouldn't hurt.

Please Review, I do really care what you think.

Keegan Eavan

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Kiera opened her eyes and sat up. Her eyes felt itchy and dry as she rubbed them. She sniffed and slowly got up and walked out of the room. She walked back downstairs to see everyone sitting around the living room in silence. Lydia had Gwen on her lap and just held her little daughter, slowly rocking back and forth. Beetlejuice was sitting next to her, his hand laced with hers.

"What's going on?" Kiera asked. Everyone turned to look at her and it shocked Kiera a little bit.

"Hi Babydoll." Lydia said.

"Why is everyone just sitting around, why aren't we opening presents?" She asked, hoping that she sounded happy. Lydia turned to look at Beetlejuice, her eyebrow raised.

"We were just waiting for you Kiera." Beetlejuice said giving a half of a smile. Kiera gave a slight smile and walked into the living room. Gwen got off her mother's lap and sat down next to Kiera. She wasn't told anything, but her mom and dad came down and said that Kiera was very upset so try not to ask her too many questions. She looked at her parents and agreed, wondering what happened to make Kiera cry. Her big sister never cried, ever and it scared her.

"Okay well let's start opening presents." Delia said clapping her hands. Everyone pushed aside the event that had just happened and forced themselves to be happy and open presents.

Lydia opened up her gift from Beetlejuice to find a beautiful platinum, diamond and sapphire bracelet.

"Beej, it's beautiful." She said and leaned in to kiss him. Kiera felt herself flinching and then felt completely horrible when she realized she did. She hoped that no one else saw it and turned away to open another gift. Lydia saw her daughter flinch when she kissed Beetlejuice. She knew that Kiera was still thinking about what happened just an hour before, but she was putting on a brave face.

By the time Kiera and Gwen opened up all of their presents, they had huge piles beside them. Kiera could help but smile a little bit when she saw that she got the new mp3 player that she wanted, not to mention all of the clothes and toys that she got. Lydia gently pulled her daughter aside when they were loading up the car.

"I know what happened today was horrible and I want to tell you that you are so brave for putting it aside so everyone can enjoy the rest of the day." Lydia said. Kiera just looked at her and gave a half of a smile. "I want to have a long talk with you, but we'll do it tomorrow okay Baby?"

"Okay Mom, I'm too tired anyway." Lydia nodded and pulled her daughter close.

Kiera laid awake in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She felt like her whole world was shattered, her entire life a lie and her parents were the ones who lied to her. She felt anger growing inside of her, then guilt replacing the anger when she thought about it. She felt like she was going to be sick. She turned to her side and hugged herself, squeezing her eyes tight and hoped that the pain would go away.

"Can you take Gwenny in to work with you tomorrow? You know she likes walking around the car lot." Lydia asked. Beetlejuice looked at his wife and sighed.

"Yeah, I can do that. You want the day to spend with Kiera?" He asked. Lydia nodded and felt her stomach twist and turn.

"Oh Beej, why did this have to happen? Especially to her, she didn't deserve it." Lydia felt a wave of guilt that Kiera had to hear this from a stranger.

"We did what we thought was best Lydia. That's all we could do. I mean Lyds, I'm the one that held her when she cried at night. I'm the one who taught her how to ride a bike and hugged her when she fell. I'm the one who went to her first play and each and every one after that. Dammit Lyds I am her father." He said his heart tightening. As far as he was concerned Kiera was his daughter and that's all there is to it, but his relationship with her would never be the same after this. Either Kiera would understand and they would be stronger or it would fall apart. He hoped with every fiber of his being that it wasn't the later.

"I know Beej, I know. I just hope that she can realize that. She's so young." Lydia said miserably. Beetlejuice grabbed Lydia and held her to him tight. They stayed locked together for the night, not sleeping, just holding.

"Bye Mom, we'll see you tonight." Gwen said as she and Beetlejuice walked out to the car.

"Bye Sweetie, bye Beej." Lydia said waving. Kiera was sitting in the living room in her pajamas holding her knees up to her chest. Lydia closed the door and turned to her daughter and sighed.

"Yesterday was bad Kier and I bet you couldn't sleep at all last night." Lydia said sitting next to her. Kiera just shook her head, keeping it down. Lydia swept a lock of her daughter's raven black hair behind her ear and lifted Kiera's chin up with her finger. "I am going to tell you a story and I want you to listen." Lydia said. Kiera knew that her mother was serious when she looked into her dark eyes and nodded. Lydia took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"When I was seventeen I met Beetlejuice. I needed him to help me and he needed me to marry him so he could stay in the...country." Lydia tried not to wince, but if she told Kiera that he was a ghost it would open up an entirely new can of worms that she didn't want Kiera to have to think about right now. One problem was enough. Kiera nodded and continued to be silent.

"I agreed and we were married. The minute we were he was sent away for five years. I didn't know where he was or when he was going to be back. A year went by and I knew that I had to get out of your grandparents house. We weren't getting along like we do now and I had to leave. I went to New York City and went to an art school. I was doing well in classes and was beginning to live my own life."

"After almost two years I met a man named John. He was sweet and kind when I didn't have anyone. We became friends and after a while we started, well dating. You have to understand Kiera that I was very lonely and so young. After we were dating for a while I began to see that John wasn't as sweet as he liked people to think he was. There was a very dark side to him that I didn't like."

"I was going to break up with him when I found out that I was pregnant with you. It was the happiest moment of my entire life when I knew that I was going to have you. That's one thing I want you to know and never forget. I loved you from the moment I found out about you. I told John that I was pregnant and his response wasn't great." Lydia swallowed hard.

"What Mom?" Kiera said. Lydia looked at her daughter and tears sprung in her eyes.

"He didn't want you. He said that if I wanted to keep you he would leave me. I told him that I didn't care if he left, but I was never going to give you up. He said that was fine with him and he left. I dropped out of school to get a better job and went through pregnancy by myself. Your grandma and grandpa were upset because I dropped out of school so they stayed away." She saw Kiera's face drop and reached out to grasp her daughter's hand.

"I know what you're thinking Kier and don't. Don't think for even one minute that you caused any of this. I loved you so much that I wanted to give you the best life I could give you and I don't regret any of it." She said. Kiera looked up and nodded, tears in her own eyes.

"Go on Mom, what happened next." She said.

"I went into labor and had you and you were the most beautiful baby in the entire world. I got us a great apartment and for months I went to work and you went to a babysitter until I came home and I spent as much time with you as I could. When you were nine months old Beetlejuice was able to come back and surprised me. It had been five years since I had seen him and I was shocked. I didn't know what I was going to do, but since we were legally married I let him in. As soon as he met you he fell madly in love with you." Lydia smiled as she remembered that day when Beetlejuice walked up behind her and she dropped her groceries. She let him in and went to get her daughter. She would never forget his face when she brought Kiera out for the first time. Beetlejuice was startled, but she watched as his dark green eyes melted.

"He stayed with us and the first thing that he did was get a job so he could help me out and support you. He got up in the middle of the night when you cried and cuddled you. He laid down on the floor and played with you." Lydia said and smiled.

"Where was my real father?" Kiera asked and Lydia felt like someone punched her in the stomach.

"I don't know where he was, but a few months after Beetlejuice came back he came back and wanted me back. By that time I knew that I loved Beetlejuice and I wanted to be with him so I said no. He was very angry, but he left. I found out later that all he wanted me for was for money. He wasn't nice Kiera, I found that out later." Lydia said. Lydia didn't want to tell Kiera all the gory details, it was better that she didn't know.

"So, he didn't want me." She said. Lydia heard the rejection clear in her daughter's voice and she ached.

"Kiera you can't think of it like that. Beej saw you and wanted you so much he hurt with it. Ever since then he's done everything for you and will still do anything for you. He's your father Kiera, not the other man." Lydia wanted so much for her daughter to understand, but she saw in her eyes that she wasn't.

"Everything I thought was real isn't though Mom. Dad is Dad, but he isn't. Gwen isn't my real sister, just my half. It's all so confusing." She said. Lydia pulled her daughter to her chest and held on strong.

"Things aren't going to be easy, but I want you to know that we love you so much. Every one of us does. Gwen is your sister and Beej is your dad. A father isn't the person who created you, but the one who is there for you. Beetlejuice would lay down in front of a semi-truck if he thought that it would protect you. That's a real father." She whispered to her daughter.

Kiera knew that everything her mother said made sense and she knew that her father loved her, but there was something inside her that felt empty. She didn't want her mother or father to know about her empty feeling. She would hide it from everyone and pretend that none of it happened. She did love her mother and father, she didn't understand why her father left for five years after he married her mother, but she knew that they loved each other a lot.

Lydia got up and walked up the stairs and came back down with a book. It was her wedding album. Kiera had seen a lot of the pictures, they had a picture in their bedroom of her mother and father smiling and happy on their wedding day.

"After your first birthday we decided that we wanted a clean slate and start over. This is our second wedding where we renewed our vows." Lydia said and flipped open the book and smiled seeing herself seven years younger in her black and white wedding dress.

"You were so pretty Mom." Kiera said then looked at her mother quickly. "You still are pretty." She said and gave a half of a smile. Lydia smiled at her daughter and pulled her into her lap giving Kiera the book. She flipped the page to pictures that Kiera had never seen before. Her mother was in her wedding dress holding her when she was just a baby and she was dressed in a white dress with black trim. Her father was standing next to them smiling at the camera. She turned the page to see her in her father's arms smiling up at him as he smiled back down at her. Then she saw her parents kissing with her in the middle laughing at both of them looking up.

"We thought that it would be best if you never knew about John. We wanted you to be happy and we wanted the best for you." Lydia said. Kiera looked at her mom and understood that.

"I know Mom, if those people hadn't come then would you have told me?" Kiera asked.

"To be honest, I don't know if I would have told you. I'm not proud of the fact that I was with John, but I am so happy and proud that I had you. You were the best thing in my life and I would never want to take that back." Lydia said. Kiera nodded, but she was so confused. She just wanted it all to go away, but at the same time she wondered about the man who was her real father. What was he like. Her mother said that he wasn't nice, but what about now? She wanted to shove the thoughts away, but they still were itching the back of her mind.


	12. Understanding

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Gwen asked at the dinner table. Lydia, Beetlejuice and Kiera looked at each other, each not knowing what to say. Gwen hated the feeling of being left out and here her own family was doing it. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

Lydia looked at her youngest daughter, her white blonde hair fell in her dark blue eyes as she pouted. She gave a small smile and looked over at her husband. He shrugged and looked down.

"We might as well tell her Lyds, it's not fair for her not to know." He said. Lydia nodded and looked over at Kiera.

"Are you okay with this?" She asked. Kiera just shrugged and stared down at her food.

"I don't care." She mumbled. Lydia didn't believe her, but she really didn't have much of a choice.

"Let's go into the living room and talk about this." She suggested.

"Good idea Lyds." Beetlejuice said. They all finished up what little dinner they had left and walked into the living room. Lydia sat down next to Beetlejuice and grabbed his hand.

"This is so hard Beej." She whispered.

"I know Babes, but we have to do it." He whispered back. Lydia nodded and looked at her two daughters. Kiera had seated herself in a chair and stared off into space while Gwen sat in front of her parents on the floor. Lydia took a deep breath and let it out before she started talking.

"You know that your father and I love each other very much right?" She started. Gwen looked at Lydia to Beetlejuice and back again.

"Are you guys getting a divorce?" She asked her eyes widening. Lydia laughed, she couldn't help it.

"No Sweetie, that's the very last thing we are going to do." She said. She saw her daughter breathe a sigh of relief and nod her head. "This happened a long time ago. When your father and I were first married we were separated for a long time. During that time I didn't know if he was ever going to come back and I met someone else." Lydia said.

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked and turned to look at Kiera, but Kiera kept her eyes on the wall.

"I was very young when I married your father and when he was gone for a few years I didn't know if he was going to come back so I moved on with my life." Lydia said. Gwen looked at her father in question.

"Why did you leave?" She asked.

"I didn't have a choice Babydoll, I had to." Beetlejuice said. Lydia could tell that her daughter didn't understand, not that she expected her to.

"During the time your father was gone I had Kiera. When he came back he immediately fell in love with her and we became a family." Lydia said. She hoped that it would be enough for Gwen.

"So Kiera's dad isn't Dad?" Gwen asked, her eyes drawn together as she tried to figure it out.

"Yup." Kiera said in a dull voice.

"Is that what the people at the door told you Kier?"

"Yup."

"Why?"

"Cause they're my grandparents." Kiera kept looking at the wall, she didn't want to hear all of this again. "Can I go now?" She asked looking briefly at her parents. Lydia nodded and Kiera hopped up from the chair and headed up the stairs. "I'll be in my room." She said over her shoulder.

"I don't understand." Gwen said shaking her head.

"I know, it's not an easy thing to understand. The important thing is that Kiera understand that we all love her very much." Beetlejuice said. "Right now she feels like she doesn't know who her family is." Beetlejuice looked at his daughter as she took it all in.

Kiera sat at her desk and stared at the wall. She couldn't take hearing all of that again. This afternoon with her mother was enough. She just wanted all of it to go away and not have to think about it anymore.

"Kiera?" A soft voice came from behind her door.

"Yeah?" She asked. Her sister came through and quietly closed the door behind her. She sat on Kiera's bed and looked at her sister. "So now you know." She said dully. Gwen nodded her head.

"You're still my sister Kier, I love you." Gwen said and gave her sister a big hug. Kiera closed her eyes and patted her sister's arm.

"Thanks Gwenny, I love you too." Kiera said. She opened her eyes and gave a small smile when she saw her sister's reflection in the mirror. Her dark blue eyes glossed over with fresh tears. "Don't cry Gwenny, everything will be okay."

"So you still love Dad?"

"Yeah I still love Dad."

"Good." Gwen said satisfied with her sister's answer and left. Kiera turned back and stared at herself in the mirror. She wondered what color her real father's hair was, and how tall he was. Was he taller than Dad? What did he like? All the thoughts swarmed around her head and she wanted to know the answers.

Beetlejuice knocked on Kiera's door and waited for her to answer. She opened up the door a crack and looked at him.

"Can I come in?" He asked and if he wasn't mistaken her eyes narrowed just a sliver. She opened up the door all the way and let him in. "Thank you." He said.

"Sure." She shrugged and sat down on her bed. He sat down backwards on her desk chair.

"Some Christmas huh?" He asked. Kiera just shrugged again and didn't say anything as she fiddled with her new toys. "Kiera I know this isn't the easiest thing to find out. In fact, it's probably the worst possible thing to happen, but it did." She kept her head down, not looking at him. He let out a big sigh when he didn't get a response. "I just wanted you to know that I'm still here for you Kier. I'll always be here for you."

Kiera looked up for a split second to look at him. He looked so sad, she'd never seen him look like that.

"That's what Mom said." She said. Beetlejuice looked at his daughter, she just seemed lost. Her mossy green eyes were clouded with confusion and he couldn't blame her for it. He didn't see one ounce of John in her, except for the color of her eyes. Other than that she was all Lydia, almost identical. "I'm just so confused." She blurted out and lowered her head in between her legs. She wasn't crying, just sitting there wanting to cry, but nothing came. Beetlejuice ached for her, but wasn't sure what he should do. He put his hand on her small shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

Kiera felt the light touch of her father's cool hand on her shoulder and felt revulsion. She shook his hand off and lifted her head up to glare at him.

"Don't touch me." She hissed at him. Beetlejuice was shocked by his daughter's reaction and slowly took his hand off of her shoulder. Kiera realized what she had said and immediately felt guilty, she cast her eyes down in shame.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." She said.

"Yes you did Kiera, I understand." He said getting up and quietly left her room. Kiera didn't know she could feel any more guilty, but hearing the pain in her father's voice she felt like someone punched her in the gut and she wallowed in her misery.

When Beetlejuice walked back down the stairs Lydia immediately knew that something was wrong. She straightened up and sat on the edge of the couch.

"What's wrong?" She asked looking at him. Beetlejuice turned to look at his wife and ran his hand through his hair.

"Kiera basically told me to back off." He said. Lydia could see the hurt in her husband's eyes and immediately wanted to march up the stairs and talk to her daughter. She had never been the one who flew off the handle, but this was something she was not going to tolerate.

Beetlejuice saw the blood in Lydia's eyes and had to smile. He knew she'd go up there and give Kiera the tongue lashing of the century if he'd let her.

"Calm down Babes, she's confused right now. I can understand that." He said. Lydia cocked her head to the side and stared at him.

"Who exactly are you and what have you done with my husband?" She asked putting her hands on her hips. Beetlejuice just laughed. "You're never this calm about things Beej, what gives? Normally you'd be ranting and raving, doing everything to get your way." Lydia said.

"I can understand where she's coming from Lyds." He said in the most solemn tone she'd ever heard. They'd never really discussed his past before, even though she'd brought it up numerous times. She told him she didn't care what he'd done, she just wanted to know, but he'd never tell her just kiss her until she forgot.

Beetlejuice never thought he'd see the day when he would relive things that had haunted him for so long, but Kiera had brought it all back. The things he'd forgotten for centuries came roaring back to life and it was time he told Lydia about them.

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I had no idea this was story was going to take this turn until I started writing it, pretty cool huh? R & R!!!!


	13. BJ's Past

Did I ever mention that I love reviews??? Cause I do!! It gives me the desire to keep going on with my story so to those who have reviewed..Thank You!! You've inspired me to continue on. Those of you who haven't...PLEASE!!! I love to hear what you have to say.

I am so proud of this particular chapter. Coming up with Beej's past was a blast. I had so much fun writing it and I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

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Lydia stared at the ghost she'd been married to for thirteen years and was floored. He'd never brought up his past before. She'd always been curious about him, even back when he was living in Adam's model she had caught herself wondering what he was like when he was alive and what had happened to him to make him act the way that he did. When she did bring it up he seemed to avoid it like the, well, plague. He sat down next to her and sighed, running his hand through his hair. 

"You know that I've been dead for over six hundred years and that I survived the plague. What you don't know is what my life was like and where I actually lived." Beetlejuice never wanted to let Lydia know about any of this, but he knew that she loved him enough to understand and she did want to know, he could see that she was sincere in that.

"Tell me Babe." She said sitting straight up and giving him her full attention. He gave her a lopsided grin. It was the first time she'd ever given him a pet name besides Beej or BJ and he liked it a lot.

"I was born in England in 1331. My father was a tailor and made a pretty good living out of it too, not rich enough to be a gentleman, but rich enough. My mother was more cultured, came from some sort of high family and taught us all a lot of history and stuff. She believed in all that education where my father could have cared less. Her favorite topics were philosophy and astrology, but we learned all sorts of stuff from Greek History to Celtic mythology. Growing up I couldn't complain too much, got into a lot of trouble, but you know how kids are." He said and gave a sly grin.

"I know how you are Babe." She said. She liked the way that word sounded rolling off of her tongue and she could tell by his smile he liked it too.

"Yeah well, I had a couple brothers and a sister. I was the oldest, but never really lived up to my father's expectations. He wanted me to take over the business and become a tailor too. I had a few ideas of my own and they didn't include making clothes for a living, know what I mean?"

"So what did you do?" Lydia asked.

"I was what I am now Babes, a con artist. I always had schemes going, made a decent buck when I wasn't caught. When I was caught, well, let's just say that it wasn't good. Did a lot of running around. My father hated that I didn't have a real job as he put it. He wanted me either working for him, for someone else or be some servant in some dingy castle. I was never one to be under someone's thumb, except for your pretty thumb Babes." He said taking her hand and kissing her thumb. She smiled and nodded.

"That's for sure. I've got you right where I want you." She said and smiled.

"Right, anyway you already know that I lived through the plague. It was the worst of it too, what everyone calls the Black Death now. Don't know how I did it, probably because I was hiding out in a small town in Ireland for most of it. I'd run into a lot of trouble in London and had to hide out for a while, so I wasn't in the city where most of the rats and fleas were. I was just kicking around for a while doing odds and ends in Ireland for a couple of years. It wasn't bad over there. Lots of rain, but there's always lots of rain over in England and Ireland. I spent a lot of time on the coast and cliffs. I just wanted to be away from people for a while. Thought maybe I could get my head on for a little bit before I headed back into the city. I got into some heavy stuff Lyds, ya know, stuff that people brought back from Crusades. Thought if I stayed away for a while I could get cleaned up again." He shook his head, ashamed at the things he'd done. Lydia placed her hand on her husband's leg.

"Don't worry about it Babe. People make mistakes, at least you wanted to change yourself, that's what matters." She said. Beetlejuice smiled and squeezed her hand. He knew that she wouldn't judge him for what he'd done.

"It was then that I got a letter from my baby sis that my father was dying. He'd caught it, but it wasn't a fast case like most of them were. He wasn't bitten or anything, just caught it from some guy sneezing on him from what my sister said. That's how bad it was Babes, you could catch this thing just by some guy sneezing on you. Scared a lot of people. He had enough money to get doctors so he was doing the whole bit. Doctors back then basically bled him out with leeches, that's all they could think of doing. Bad blood and all, thought that draining your blood was the best thing to do. I decided to go back, see him one last time before he kicked the bucket. My mother and all of my brothers had gotten the plague a few years back and died pretty quick. One right after the other, I'd been around for some of it, but most was just word of mouth. It hurt a lot when my mom died, I was in London then. Right before I took off for Ireland. That was part of the reason I left, I was pretty close to her and my sister. I think that's when I decided it was time to get my head on straight. My sister stayed with my father after that and didn't leave him. She couldn't really, he needed her there." Beetlejuice hadn't thought about his sister in a while. They had been the closest out of all his siblings. She had a wild streak just as wide as his, but over the years his father had beaten hers out, just like he did his mother's spirit. He hated seeing her so defeated, like a wounded horse, but there wasn't a thing he could do for her.

"My sister was a real beauty Lyds. You shoulda seen her, all this light brown hair that curled just right and pretty grey eyes full of wit and intelligence. Your eyes kind of remind me of hers, the way they're always smiling and bright. That's how she was, always ready to entertain and be entertained. She had guys lining up out the doors just to catch a glimpse of her since she was just a kid. She could've married some rich duke or something and had a good life, but after my mother died, she kinda gave up hope. It killed me to see her act like a lame horse sent out to pasture."

"It sounds like you two were very close." Lydia said.

"Yeah, we were. Gwenny reminds me of her sometimes too. A face she gives or a gesture she does. Gwen has that wild streak that Bella had too, but she's going to keep that forever, I'll make sure of it. I never want to see her defeated like Bella was." He gave a wistful smile as he thought about her.

"So what happened when you came home?" Lydia asked reaching out to hold his hand.

"When I came home Bella told me that he was going fast and wanted to talk to me. Since we hadn't been on the best terms I didn't really know why he would, but I figured it was because I was the last son he had. Something to do with being an heir or whatever, take over the business like he wanted me to. I walked into his room and stayed away from him in the corner of the room. Bella had the room opened up so it would be aerated as much as possible to not keep the sick in the house. He opened his eyes and looked at me, not really seeing ya know? He kinda had a film over his eyes and couldn't get out of bed. I asked him what he wanted to talk with me about." Beetlejuice closed his eyes and pictured the scene. He was only twenty years old standing in the doorway of his father's room. He hadn't been there for years and had only seen his fathers bedroom maybe once or twice in his entire life. It was large, larger than all of the other bedrooms and a huge wooden bed was right in the middle on top of a Turkish rug that he had bought from some crusader. Bella was sitting outside the room with her tapestry, trying to suppress a cough while her older brother was there.

"You wanted to see me Father?" He asked nervously. He didn't know why he was so nervous, it was just his father after all.

"Yes, B, I will never know why your mother insisted on naming you Betelgeuse. It sounds so vulgar and wrong." He said and shook his head.

"I asked her once, she said it was because it was her favorite star. You know how much she loved astrology. I'm just glad I wasn't named Socrates or Plato." He said giving a little smile. His father just shrugged and coughed.

"As you can see I am dying. I wanted you to know something before I go. You're mother was a noble lady. That's why she knew about all that education nonsense. When she was young she had a tryst with her tutor and you were the result. She was betrothed to a wealthy earl at the time, but when he found out about your mother's infidelity she was cast out. The tutor, Hawkins I believe, ran out on her when he found out she was with child. When I found her she had given birth and was on the streets. I told her to just throw you in a ditch, but she refused. For some reason she thought that you were worth something and she wanted to keep you and raise you up. I felt pity for her and offered her my bed. She accepted and I took on you as a responsibility. I didn't want to, but your mother was a beauty, all that white blonde hair of hers and those soft grey eyes and she made me a lot of business. I did what was required by you, but you never achieved much. You never wanted to learn anything so I figured it was your rotten father that you take after, nothing more. That's what I wanted to say, didn't want to die without saying it." He said. Beetlejuice shook his head. He didn't believe what he was hearing. His father lifted himself up again with a heaving cough, spitting up blood and then he was no more.

"It can't be true, can it?" He asked walking back out and turning to Bella. She looked at her brother, two years older than she was and sighed.

"I think it is B. Why else would he say it on his deathbed? He wanted to make amends before he died." She said. She wanted to hug her brother, but she knew that she had contracted the plague from taking care of her father. He sighed and ran his hand through his white blonde hair.

"Why?" It was the only think he could think of. It wasn't like he got along well with his father, but why lie to him? He didn't understand how the man he knew as his father would tell him that he wanted his mother to throw him away when he was a baby.

"I don't know. I always knew that you were mother's favorite, now I know why. She hated our father and our brothers and myself reminded her of him. You probably remind her of someone she loved." Bella said. Beetlejuice looked at the sadness on his sister's face.

"Don't say that Bella. At least I still have you." He said and went to go hug his sister. She put her hand up to stop him from coming any closer.

"Don't B. I have it." She said in the most miserable voice he'd ever heard. "I'm dying." Beetlejuice really felt his whole world slip away when she said that. He felt rage boil up inside of him when she lurched forward in a cough and grasped her chest.

"First he tells me that he never wanted me. Then he gives you the plague and the bastard uses up all his money for doctors for himself and doesn't care about you? It's too much Bella." He raged. Bella just stood back as her brother destroyed the house. She did nothing to stop him. "Why did he leave her?" He asked as he slumped down to the floor and put his head between his legs. He didn't cry, just hung his head. Bella stood back and shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know B. Father said his name was Hawkins, maybe you should find him." She suggested. Beetlejuice looked up at his sister and shook his head.

"I don't know Bella. I just don't know." He said. He felt confused and angry, but he didn't know who to be angry with, his mother, his real father or the man who raised him.

Lydia felt her heart ache as she listened to what Beetlejuice said. She felt the tears slipping down her face and made no move to wipe them away. Beetlejuice opened his eyes to see her crying silently. He gave a slight smile and lifted his hand to brush the tears away from her face.

"Don't cry Babes, it happened a long time ago." He said.

"I can't help it Beej, that's so sad." She said and sniffed. He laughed and pulled her to him and shifted to where she was laying on top of him as he lounged on the couch.

"What happened after that?" She asked against his chest.

"Bella died soon after that. I stuck around to make sure she was given a proper burial instead of being dropped in a ditch somewhere and took off. I hopped around from town to town not really doing much, just getting by. It was about sixteen years later when I was in London and I ran into my real father. I heard someone talk about an old tutor named Hawkins who was bragging about his conquests when he was younger in some pub. I finished my pint and headed over to the other pub. I saw him there, old and withered talking about all the young ladies that he'd seduced. After I was drunk enough I asked him if he ever made any of them with child. He frowned at me and said just once. Beetlejuice remembered the exact words that he said.

"A beauty of a girl, so young and innocent. She had loads of all this white blonde hair that reached down past her waist. She told me she loved me and I took her right there. She cried for a while when I broke her maidenhead, but I just shrugged my clothes back on and left her to her studies." Hawkins said, smiling a toothless smile as he remembered.

"I asked him what he did when he found out and he shrugged and said he left. That there would be no way he would raise a child."

"What did you do Babe?" Lydia asked.

"I got up and started beating him until I couldn't see anymore. I remember a few people pulling me off and beating me until I blacked out."

"That's horrible Beej. I guess you can understand what Kiera's going through, better than I can anyway." Lydia said. Beetlejuice nodded and kissed the top of her head.

"Yeah, we just need to give her some time and she'll see through all this." He said and secretly hoped that he was right. Lydia thought about that and hoped he was right. Right now her daughter was just absorbing everything, but soon she'd lash out, Lydia knew that much. Her daughter was bright years beyond her small age, but above all she was still a little girl and unaware of the complicated ways of the world. She furrowed her brow as she thought about Beetlejuice knocked out and beaten.

"How did you die?" She didn't really mean to ask after she thought about it, but the words hung in the air and after the words were out of her mouth she felt horrible asking and buried her head in his shoulder. Beetlejuice just laughed and stroked her hair. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask." She said in his shoulder.

"Don't worry Babes. I died that night. After I blacked out they hurled me out into one of the alleys and it started to snow."

"You froze to death?" Lydia asked peaking out to look at him. He smiled down at his beautiful wife and brushed her hair away from her face.

"Yeah, I froze to death. It's not as bad as you think Babes. It wasn't like I was conscious as I froze, I was blacked out and at least I didn't have to go through the torture of the plague. That was horrible stuff. Way I figure, I got lucky and had an easy way out." He said.

"I'm so sorry Beej. Have you ever seen your sister in the afterlife?" Lydia asked. "I'd like to meet her." Beetlejuice drew his eyes together and shook his head.

"Nope, I never saw her after that. I'm sure she's somewhere, but I sort of blocked all of that out when I died. I didn't want to think about it at all. I think all this brought it all back to me. Like unlocking a chest. Maybe we should see if we can find her." He said. Lydia smiled and laid her head back down on his chest.

"I'd like that."

"Beej?"

"Yeah Babes?"

"You said that you were born in England, but you don't have an accent." Lydia asked, confused. Beetlejuice laughed at her and stroked her cheek with his fingers.

"Yeah I did have an accent, but after centuries of going here and there I lost it. It's easy to loose an accent if you're not working hard to keep it. I'm sure I could slip into pretty quick though, back into Middle English, but it sounds like crap." He said. Lydia smiled and snuggled back down on his chest. She thought about his sister and wondered if she could find her for him. She'd like to be able to give him something after he'd given her so much.

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So that's it so far. What do you think? I know I say it a lot, but I mean it every time I say it...REVIEW please..(puppy dog face)

I've got a lot more stuff that I want to put down, but finding time to write and figuring out what I want to say is a little difficult.


	14. Parent Teacher Conference

Sigh.. I didn't get any reviews on my favorite chapter, but oh well. The show must go on. Things are getting hairy and a little tense.

Hope you enjoy and Review!

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The next few weeks Lydia noticed Kiera becoming increasingly agitated. The simplest things would set her off and she would end up blinking for several seconds at her daughter before Kiera would break down in tears, apologize and dash up the stairs to her room. Kiera began to spend long periods in her bedroom, locking everyone out. Lydia was scared for her daughter, but she didn't know what to do. Beetlejuice said that all she needed was time, but Lydia was beginning to wonder if that would even help.

Kiera laid on her bed and listened to her music. She had one arm thrown over her eyes, blocking everything out. She should have been doing her homework, but she just didn't care anymore. Not about school, not about anything. The only thing that consumed her mind was her real father. She wanted to find him and talk to him. There was a knock on the door, but Kiera didn't hear it.

Gwen quietly opened her sister's door after she knocked and saw Kiera laying on her bed.

"Kiera?" She asked, but Kiera didn't hear her. She slowly walked up and gave Kiera a slight nudge on her leg. Kiera jumped up and grabbed the earphones out of her ears and glared at her sister.

"Don't come into my room without knocking. I can't believe you did that Guinevere. Why doesn't anyone want to leave me alone, just leave me alone. I don't want to see you, I don't want to see anyone." She screamed at her little sister. Gwen just stood there and stared at her sister before she burst into tears and ran out of the room. Kiera knew that she should have cared, but she didn't. She just shrugged her shoulders and laid back down on her bed.

Lydia heard Gwen's crying and then saw her youngest daughter race down the stairs and nearly knock her over when she grabbed onto her waist.

"What's the matter Darling?" She asked. Gwen wiped her tears on her mother's shirt before looking up.

"Kiera yelled at me. She told me she didn't want to see me or anyone else and to leave her alone. I was just going to ask her if she had a pencil sharpener, I can't find mine." She said and started to cry again. Lydia felt herself fuming as she bent down and lifted her daughter into her arms to cuddle her.

"It's okay Gwen." She said stroking her daughter's long hair.

"What did I do?" She asked against her mother's shoulder.

"Nothing Baby, absolutely nothing." She said and gently pulled Gwen away from her so she look into her face. "Listen to me Gwen, this is not your fault. Kiera isn't mad at you, she's mad at someone else. She's just taking it out on you, do you understand?" Lydia asked. Gwen rubbed her eyes and shook her head. Lydia sighed and hugged her daughter to her. "I know it's hard, but just know that you didn't do anything." Lydia said. Gwen nodded and Lydia kissed her temple and set her down.

"Will things ever be like they were Mom?" She asked looking up, her eyes reddened from crying.

"Of course they will Baby, now why don't you go upstairs and play for a little bit. I'll find you a pencil sharpener so you can finish your homework." She said and smiled. Gwen nodded and turned to walk back up the stairs. Lydia waited until she heard Gwen's door quietly close before she marched up the stairs and straight to Kiera's room.

Lydia didn't bother knocking, she just burst straight in, her hands on her hips. Kiera sat up on her bed and took her earphones out again.

"What is with everyone today. Gwen walking in and now you?" She snapped at her mother.

"Don't you dare take that tone with me young lady. How dare you talk to your sister like that? She came to ask you a simple question and you scared her so badly she cried." Lydia fumed.

"She's always crying about something or other." Kiera shot back.

"She does not and you know it Kiera. Now I want you to apologize to your sister."

"Not a chance, she walked into my room without knocking."

"Are you refusing to do what I asked you to do young lady?" Lydia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Did I stutter?" Kiera asked, crossing her arms and challenging Lydia. Lydia had never been so furious with her daughter in her entire life. She felt herself charging with energy and had to force herself to not shoot a lightening bolt at her daughter. She closed her eyes and silently counted to ten to calm herself down.

"You will do what I asked Kiera, I will not ask you again." She said in a low voice. Kiera thrust her chin up in the air and didn't move.

"Make me." She said.

"What has gotten into you Kiera. I know that you're upset, but this has gone on long enough. You can't keep lashing out at people." Lydia said, her anger fading away into worry. Her daughter was becoming way too defiant and it was starting to scare her. Kiera just kept her chin in the air and stared down her mother.

"I just don't feel like taking orders from a person who cheats on her husband with another guy when he's not there. Jeez Mom couldn't wait for a few years? Nice role model I've got." Kiera asked looking down and examining her fingernails. Lydia was shocked and deeply hurt by what her daughter said.

"That was below the belt Kiera." She said and turned to shut the door. Kiera almost ran out and begged her mother for forgiveness, but she stopped herself. Why should she go apologize? She meant what she had said to her mother, just because it was her mother didn't mean that she shouldn't have said it. She still felt guilt in the pit of her stomach, but she pushed it aside and laid back down on her bed.

Lydia couldn't help it, what her daughter said stung her and she felt the tears well up in her eyes. She rubbed her eyes trying not to let the tears fall, but it didn't stop the lump from growing in her throat and the sob break out. She tried to keep it to herself as she walked into her room before she burst out in her pillow.

Beetlejuice walked in and felt the house eerily empty. No one was in the living room or the kitchen, which was strange in his house. He took off his coat and slowly walked up the stairs and knocked on Kiera's door.

"Yeah?" She asked. He cracked open the door and looked at her. She didn't say anything, but stiffened up.

"Do you know where your sister and mother are?" He asked. He really didn't have time to try and make her feel better so he kept it short and clipped. She shrugged her shoulders and turned back to what she was doing.

"Right, well night." He said and shut her door again. He knocked on Gwen's door and opened it up. Gwen was laying on her bed and playing with her dolls.

"Hi Dad." She said and smiled. He smiled at his youngest daughter.

"Hi Gwenny. How was your day?" He asked coming in and sitting down on her bed.

"Good, until Kiera snapped at me." She said and shrugged. He just nodded and locked that bit of information away.

"Do you know where your mother is?" He asked. Gwen shook her head and returned to playing with her dolls. He watched her for a few seconds before he patted her back and got up to leave her be. He walked down the hall to his own room and opened the door. He was shocked to find Lydia laying on the bed, her head buried in her pillow. It looked like she'd fallen asleep as she laid there. He gently laid his hand on her back and gave her a gentle shake.

Lydia slowly woke up feeling a cool hand on her own cool skin. She lifted her head and looked at her husband who was sitting on the bed. She rubbed her eyes and slowly got up.

"When did you get in?" She asked. Beetlejuice didn't respond to her just kept looking at her. She'd been crying, it was clear on her face.

"What happened this afternoon Lydia?" He asked. Lydia sighed and looked at him.

"Is it that obvious?" She asked. He laid down on the bed and she laid back down and put her head on his shoulder.

"Yes, now tell me what happened." He said.

"Kiera snapped at Gwen and Gwen came running down crying and told me what happened. Gwen just wanted to ask Kiera if she had a pencil sharpener and Kiera blew up. I got angry and walked up to talk to Kiera. She copped an attitude with me and then told be that why should she listen to a woman who cheated on her husband." She said. Beetlejuice tried to keep his mind open, but his patience with Kiera was growing thin as well. He, Lydia and Gwen had been on their toes for weeks now moving around Kiera's moods and it was beginning to wear thin.

"We'll figure something out Babes." He said and sighed. They had been laying there for a few minutes when the phone rang. Beetlejuice bent over to pick it up.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Oh, hello Mr. Juice, this is Miss Simms, Kiera's teacher? I was wondering if you got my note this afternoon?" She asked over the phone. Beetlejuice looked over at Lydia and covered the mouth piece.

"Did you get a note from Kiera's teacher Babes?" He asked. Lydia shook her head and raised her eyebrows. "No, we didn't get a note Miss Simms, what can we help you with?" He said returning to the phone.

"I'd like to have a meeting with you and your wife regarding Kiera's...behavior over the past few weeks. Does tomorrow at three sound all right?"

"Yes, that will be fine." Beetlejuice said and hung up the phone. He laid back down and looked up at the ceiling.

"We have a meeting with Kiera's teacher tomorrow at three." He said. Lydia sighed and shook her head.

"What are we going to do Beej? This is going way over our heads."

"I don't know, but we'll have to do something and fast." He hated the fact that they were stuck in this just because of two idiots who couldn't keep their mouths shut. He began to wonder why, after seven years did they even bother?

"Good afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Juice." Miss Simms said in a singsong voice that reminded Lydia of Delia when she wanted to fake nice.

"Good afternoon Miss Simms." They said in unison, holding each other's hands. Lydia had left Kiera and Gwen with their neighbor Molly when she went to meet with Beetlejuice at the school.

"Over the past few weeks I've noticed that Kiera has been going downward very fast. She used to be one of the best students in my class, but now it seems like she doesn't even care." Miss Simms said with genuine concern.

"We know Miss Simms, she's been acting out a lot at home too." Lydia said.

"It's not just acting out, but she hasn't been completing any homework. When the other children are doing their work in class she just sits there and looks bored and when I ask her to do something she snaps at me. Has anything happened recently that I need to be aware of?" She asked. Lydia and Beetlejuice shot a glance at one another before they turned back to look at Kiera's teacher.

"She found out a few things recently that we had been protecting her from." Beetlejuice said. "She should have never found out about them, but it happened and we're trying to figure out the best way to deal with it."

"What exactly did she find out?" Miss Simms asked. Lydia frowned at the middle aged woman. She could smell the hunger for gossip coursing through Miss Simms and she wrinkled her nose at it.

"It is something that happened a long time ago and like my husband said, we're dealing with it. We were trying to give her some space to understand, but now we need to take some action and get her back on the right track." Lydia said, narrowing her eyes. She wanted to spit in Miss Simms face when she saw the look of disappointment when Lydia didn't give her any details.

"All right, well if Kiera keeps doing this I will have to contact the counselor and the principal to see what needs to be done. I actually should have done that now, but I wanted you two to have a chance to tell me what's wrong with Kiera before this became something that could get very big." Miss Simms said, a clear threat in her tone. Lydia kept her glare on the teacher as they left.

"This has to stop Lyds, Kiera is going down a dark path and if we don't get her back on the right track it will be bad." Beetlejuice said shaking his head.

"I know it. That teacher wanted something and we weren't going to give it to her. Now the next time Kiera does something in class she'll call everyone in on it until we tell them what happened. It will be a huge mess." Lydia said.

"We'll talk about it when I get home okay? We'll figure it out like we always do." He said and bent down to kiss her on the mouth. Lydia sighed against him and nodded her head. She hoped they would be able to fix this soon. If they didn't then she wasn't sure what was going to happen to Kiera.


	15. Runaway

Okay so I have to keep going on with this story because I have to see what happens next.

I'm bummed that I haven't gotten any reviews lately, but that's the way life goes. Please, please, please Review!!!

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"You can't tell me what to do. YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER." Kiera screamed at Beetlejuice. The words hit him like a punch in the stomach and stung beyond belief, but he held his ground.

"This has to stop Kiera. We know that you're upset and your mother and I want to do everything in our power to help you with this. Whatever it takes, but you've got to give us something in return." He said in a calm voice. He knew he couldn't fly off the handle with her, it would only make her more defiant. Lydia stood next to him keeping silent, but being strong.

Kiera looked at them, from one to the other and back again. She couldn't believe them, they wanted her to change? It didn't seem fair, life didn't seem fair anymore. She shook her head and dropped it wanting to cry. She felt the hatred burning inside of her, bubbling over until it was consuming her every move. She looked at them through hooded eyes, the hate plain on her face.

"Neither of you can tell me what to do. I hate you both." She said, low and furious. She turned on her heel and walked away from them, not looking back. Lydia wanted to go after her daughter, but Beetlejuice held her back.

"Let her go Lyds. Give her a little bit to think on it." He said. Lydia looked at him and nodded.

Kiera walked up the stairs and into her room. She opened the drawer in her desk and took out the wrinkled envelope. She'd been hiding it for weeks now, just looking at it when she needed too. She stared at the address on the front of it, a place in Thousand Islands New York. She shoved the envelope in her backpack along with some clothes and hid it under her bed. She knew what she needed to do and she was going to do it tonight.

"Beej, I don't know about this." Lydia said when she watched her daughter storm up the stairs and slam her door.

"We've got to keep firm on this Lyds. If we don't then it will just get worse. Kiera needs to have some sort of control on her temper. She never used to do this before. Maybe she has been bottling up her anger all these years and just let it go." Beetlejuice said. Lydia just shook her head and looked down. Kiera was so angry and unhappy and if she wasn't already dead it would be killing her.

"I've been thinking Beej, maybe we should send Gwenny to live with Dad and Delia for a while. I mean until we get everything settled down with Kiera. I'm scared that Gwen is taking in more than she's letting on." Lydia said. It broke her heart to think of being away from her daughter, but if it was best for Gwen to be with her father, Delia and the Matilands then that's what she would do.

"Are you sure Babes?" Beetlejuice asked grabbing her hand. Lydia looked at him, her eyes bleak and nodded.

"I think so, she doesn't need to be here while we sort this out." She said. Beetlejuice ran his hand through his hair, making it stand on end. Being away from his little girl was just as bad as Kiera wanting to pull away from him and it was tearing him up.

"How did we come to this Lydia?" He asked. Lydia just shook her head, she didn't know. All she knew was that they needed to get back or their family would crumble.

Kiera laid in her bed, dressed in clothes with her blankets covering her head and waited until she knew her parents would be in bed. Somewhere in her she felt a twinge of guilt, but she pushed it aside. She knew that she had to do this or she wouldn't be able to look at her parents again. She did love them, she really did, but every time she looked at her mother all she could see was her with another man. Every time she looked at her father all she could see was lies. She had to see her real father and get the rest of the story. She had to know.

"Kiera, are you asleep?" She heard her fathers's voice whisper as he opened the door. She didn't say anything, just laid there, her back to him.

Beetlejuice walked in to his daughter's dark room and gently sat down on the edge of the bed. Kiera felt the bed give as her father sat down and pulled the covers closer to her.

"I know that we've been telling you ever since you found out that we did it to protect you. I also know that you probably want to know what we were protecting you from." He whispered and sighed. "Your mother and I never wanted you to find out because a lot of really bad things happened when you were just a baby. Things that no little girl should ever know about and I won't tell you now, but someday I will. That's a promise that I'm giving to you right now. I will tell you everything Kiera, but when you're old enough. You're mother and I wanted so much for you to just live a normal life, be happy."

Kiera laid there and listened to him. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and just squeezed them tighter. She wouldn't cry, she couldn't cry, not now.

"Oh Kiera you're mother and I...we just love you so much. I love you so much. I loved you since the first time I saw you." He said softly and lightly laid his hand on her back before he got up and walked to the door. "Sweet dreams Kiera and I'll see you in the morning. We'll sort this all out, somehow it will all be fine." He said and quietly closed the door. Kiera buried her head in her pillow when she heard the door shut and let out a small sob. She thought about just forgetting the whole thing, she could live with what she had. She laid there for a few minutes debating with herself whether or not she should continue on with her plan and sighed. She knew that she had to go and she also knew that if her parents found out what she wanted to do, they'd never let her go. Yes, she'd go on with her plan to find the answers that she needed.

Kiera looked at the clock, she had to get to the train station before one o'clock when her train departs for New York. She slipped out of her bed and quietly opened her door. She looked down the empty hall to see if anyone was awake. The light was off in her parents room and she didn't see a light coming from downstairs. She crept back in her room to grab her backpack and slipped down the stairs as quietly as possible and slipped out of the house.

She knew she should have been happy that she'd made it that far, but she had a lump in the pit of her stomach that wouldn't go away. She took a deep breath and got up on the train, taking a seat in the back, holding her backpack tight to her body. She knew that this was it and there was no way she could go back from here.

"This seat taken? Everywhere else is full." Kiera looked up to see an older man looking at the seat across from her. She gulped and shook her head. He settled down in the seat and opened up his newspaper. She turned to stare out the window watching the snow fall and kept her hand on the can of pepper spray that she'd found in the box that her mother had kept from the time that she'd lived in New York. "Where are your parents?" He asked after a half an hour. She glanced at him and tightened her grip on her pepper spray.

"Couldn't take me to New York to visit my grandparents." She mumbled.

"I see, well I hope that you have a good time with your grandparents." He said and returned to his newspaper.

"I've never met them before." She blurted out. He looked up from his newspaper again and set it down.

"That's interesting, why not?" He asked. She gave him a wary look and kept her hand on the spray.

"I didn't know I had them until Christmas. My parents never told me that my father wasn't my father." She said. He just looked at her and set his newspaper down.

"I'm sure they had a good reason for that." He said.

"They said they did it to protect me." She spat out.

"Parents have their reasons. I'm sure theirs was a good one."

"They never told me that my dad isn't my dad. How is that a good reason?" She asked.

"There could be a hundred different reasons, but you're visiting your grandparents, so I'm sure you'll find out." He said. She just nodded and looked back through the window. Even a perfect stranger was siding with her parents. That couldn't be fair. She thought about the people who had come to her grandparents door on Christmas day. They seemed nice enough, looked rich. She remembered the weird animal that was wrapped around the older woman's neck and shivered. She hoped that they weren't as weird as they looked. Hopefully her father will be able to tell her everything her parents lied to her about. She did feel bad about leaving Gwenny. She knew that she hadn't been the nicest to her sister lately and she didn't get a chance to apologize before she left. She sighed and made it a point to remember to apologize to her when she got home.


	16. Twin Suits

Gwen screamed, making Beetlejuice and Lydia jump out of their bed wide awake. They flew out of bed and ran out into the hallway, where Gwen was standing, holding her blanket and crying.

"What's the matter Babydoll?" Lydia asked dropping to her knees and pulling Gwen to her.

"Kiera's gone. I had a bad dream and went to her room and she wasn't there." She wailed into her mother's shoulder. Lydia looked up at Beetlejuice and he turned to push Kiera's bedroom door open and flicked on the light. His heart sank when he saw that the room was completely empty, her bed messed up and her backpack gone.

"Oh God Beej, she really is gone." Lydia said, picking Gwen up. "Where could she have gone to?" She asked. Beetlejuice ran his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end.

"She must have found that envelope and traveled there." He said. Gwen looked up from Lydia's shoulder and rubbed her eyes.

"I threw it away though." She said and walked into Kiera's room. She riffled through her daughter's drawers to see if she might have left the envelope. She shoved the drawers back into place and dropped her head. "It's not there, but that's the only place that she would know where to go."

"She must have seen it in the garbage and took it out, keeping it."

"Was it a big white envelope with messy writing on it?" Gwen asked. Lydia looked up at her youngest daughter.

"Yes it was Gwenny. Did you see it?" She asked. Gwen nodded and looked at her father.

"Once when I came in here, Kiera had something she was looking at and when she saw me she shoved it in her desk. It was a big envelope and it was torn on one side." She said.

"Good job Gwenny." He said and gave her a kiss on her temple. Kiera went to go see those people huh?" Gwen asked, looking at Beetlejuice.

"Yes she did Gwenny. We're going to get her right now. We'll take you over to Grandma and Grandpa's and they'll watch you." He said.

"But I wanna go with you and Mom to find Kiera." Gwen wailed and started to cry. He lifted her out of Lydia's arms and gave her a big squeeze.

"It's way too dangerous Gwenny. Your big sister might be in a lot of danger and we don't want either of you to get hurt." He said looking at her. Gwen rubbed her eyes and nodded.

"Okay Daddy." She said.

"Good, let's go." He said running down the stairs, still holding Gwen. Lydia was right behind him, her nightgown twisting around her ankles.

"Aren't we going to get dressed first?" Gwen asked seeing her mother in her nightgown and her father in only a pair of pants, both of them barefoot.

"There isn't enough time Gwenny." He said and set her in the car. The snow didn't bother him or Lydia as they strapped Gwen into the car and got in.

"We've got to hurry Beej." Lydia said in a near panic as she jumped into the passenger side of the car. Beetlejuice didn't say anything, but started the car and flew out of the driveway headed for Winter River. He raced down the road and prayed that they wouldn't be pulled over as they went to Charles and Delia's house old farmhouse.

Beetlejuice pounded on the door as loudly as he could while holding Gwen his one strong arm. Lydia stood next to him and started to pound as well. It was five minutes before the door opened.

"Beej? Pumpkin? What are you doing here? It's five in the morning?" Charles asked when he saw his daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law standing in front of him in their pajamas and barefoot. They all pushed past him into the house. Beetlejuice set Gwen down on her feet.

"Go upstairs to your mother's old room and try to get some sleep Gwenny. Your mother and I have to talk to your grandfather for a few minutes okay?" He said. Gwen opened her mouth wanted to say something, but the tone in her father's voice was the tone that he used when he meant business. She closed her mouth and nodded before she headed upstairs. When Beetlejuice heard the door shut he turned to Charles.

"This is bad isn't it?" Charles asked. Lydia and Beetlejuice nodded their heads.

"Kiera's gone. She ran away in the middle of the night." Lydia said. Charles looked from Lydia to Beetlejuice and saw the grave looks on their faces. He gulped and sat down in the chair.

"Do you know where she went?" He asked.

"What's going on?" Lydia, Charles and Beetlejuice turned to look up and they saw Barbara and Adam walking down the stairs.

"Kiera ran away, we're just dropping of Gwen and we're going to find her." Beetlejuice said. Barbara gasped and nodded.

"That poor little girl. You go get her and bring her back safe. I'll go and check on Gwen. Is she in Lydia's room?" Barbara asked.

"Yes, thank you Barbara. We'll be back as soon as we can." She said. Barbara nodded and they went to Lydia's old room to find Gwen. Lydia turned back to her father and ran her hand through her hair.

"She went to go find John's parents." She said, her voice heavy. "

Do you know where that is Babes?" Beetlejuice asked. Lydia looked up and nodded her head.

"I was there once. John took me to introduce me to his parents. It's this huge castle like mansion on Thousand Islands in New York. It's been in their family for generations. Monstrous old thing that has gargoyles on it and everything." Lydia said. She looked back at her father and thought he was going to faint. She grabbed his arm and led him to the sofa making him sit down.

"Go on and get her, bring her back as quickly as you can and safe. We'll take care of Gwenny until you get back." He said. They both nodded and turned to go. "Beetlejuice?" Charles called. Beetlejuice turned to look at his father-in-law, his coloring ashen from the news.

"Yes Charles?"

"Bring my granddaughter back to me." He said with a fierceness Beetlejuice had never heard before. He nodded and grabbed Lydia's hand, pulling her out the door.

"It'll be easier if we zap ourselves there Babes." He said once they were outside. Lydia nodded her head and a fire began to erupt in her.

"If those idiotic people had just kept to themselves then we wouldn't be rushing to find our daughter." Lydia said, her voice filling with rage. Beetlejuice nodded and snapped his fingers. He was instantly dressed in his favorite black and white striped suit, white shirt and black tie. His feet now covered in his old and dusty boots and his hair was still wild from sleep. Black circles appeared around his eyes that made him look just ans dangerous as the first time Lydia had set her eyes on him. Lydia smiled at him, a fierce smile that only meant danger was coming. She snapped her own fingers and Beetlejuice almost laughed. She was dressed in her own black and white striped suit, fitted to her body and a white vest shirt, peaked out of her jacket sleeves and slid down to the middle of her fingers and her collar was standing up. She had on her own pointed black boots, the heels high and pointed. Her pale face was whiter than he'd ever seen and she had black around her own eyes and a deep blood red stain on her lips. Her raven black hair was floating around her and she had blood in her eyes.

"Babes, you better keep that outfit, cause you look incredible." He said, not able to help himself. She still had that dangerous smile on her face and she looked at him through her deep, thick lashes.

"It's Showtime." Lydia said, low and strong.

"You took the words straight out of my mouth Babes." He said and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. She looked at him and he couldn't help himself. He pulled her in and locked his lips to hers, kissing her deeply as they disappeared to save their daughter.

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I just had to have Lyds in the classic BJ suit. I thought it was fitting for her :) Review...please...


	17. Hello Dad

Thanks for the Reviews, I appreciate it. I was wondering what people were thinking of this. I hope you enjoy and review.

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Kiera walked in the snow to her grandparent's house. It seemed like it was forever and her feet were freezing by the time she saw the gates covered in dead ivy and snow with the address on them. She felt butterflies in her stomach and she shook when she pressed the button on the gate.

A second later the gates opened and revealed a long winding road. She sighed which turned into chattering when she pulled her jacket tighter and shuffled through the snow, her head down to keep the snow out of her eyes. She looked up after what felt like forever and her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. There sat what had to be the largest house she'd ever seen in her life. It looked like a castle. It even had gargoyles and everything. She never knew there were places like this in America, let alone one in her family. She shivered and kept walking hoping that the front door was close.

She shook the snow off of her and looked up at the large front door. She had to reach up on her numb toes to reach the door knocker. It was shaped like a lion, it's mouth hanging open with a large handle resting in it. She was barely able to move it a few inches before she let go and it slammed against the door. She waited for a few minutes before the door opened. She cautiously walked inside and heard her shoes echoing loudly on the marble floor.

"Hello?" She asked in a little voice. She was startled when she heard her voice echoing back to her. She looked around to see who answered the door, but no one was there. "My name is Kiera, I am your son's daughter?" She called to no one in particular. The only thing she heard was her own voice coming back to her. She held onto her backpack and walked around.

The house seemed endless as she walked around and there were so many things to look at. There was everything from antique furniture and vases to portraits. The walls were filled with portraits of people, dating back to the Civil War and further. She wondered if they were her relatives, they all seemed so glamorous and rich, dripping in diamonds and jewels. She walked along the hallway wondering if she'd see a portrait of her father.

She felt like she had walked a whole mile when she finally saw the people who had come to the house on Christmas. There was a large photo of them. The woman sitting on a chair while the man was standing next to her. It looked like it had been a tradition from all the paintings that she'd seen. Then she looked at the next picture to see a handsome man in his twenties. Dark brown hair and a smile on his face. She looked into his eyes and saw that they were the same color as hers. She knew that he was her father and she smiled. She still hadn't seen anyone in the house and she was beginning to wonder if there was anyone there at all.

"Hello?" She called again, a little louder this time.

"Up here." A voice called back at her. It was a man's voice. She felt the butterflies again when she turned to walk back down the hallway to find her way to the staircase.

"Where?" She called.

"Up the stairs." He called back to her. She looked around and saw the large staircase heading up. She climbed up the stairs and paused when they split at the landing, going two different directions.

"Which way now? I'm at the landing." She asked.

"Right." He said, closer now. She went right and climbed up the second flight of stairs. When she reached the floor she saw a light coming down at the end of the hallway. She walked down the hallway towards the light and stopped on the other side of the door. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Are you there?" She asked, cautiously.

"Sure I am. Come on in." He called from the other side of the door. She held her breath as she grasped the handle and opened the door. She walked into a room unlike any of the others that she'd seen. It was a bedroom that looked like it was as large as the living room at home. A large four poster bed was sitting in the middle, made with dark colors and heavy drapes that were pulled back. She didn't see anyone in the room and looked around.

"Is anyone there?" She asked walking into the room a little more.

"Of course I'm here. I'm in the bathroom, be out in a minute." He said. She looked at the other door in the room and sighed. For a second she thought she was hearing voices. "Take a seat." He said.

"Okay." She said. She looked around and sat down on a chair next to the window and looked out. The snow was falling heavier now than it had been and she was glad that she was inside and not out there. She looked over and saw a large gargoyle that looked a little frightening covered with snow. She heard the door open and turned to look at her father.

John was dressed in a pair of black slacks and sweater, his brown hair slicked back.

"So you're Kiera huh?" He said looking her up and down. Kiera nodded and smiled. He didn't say anything, just continued to stare. "You're still not much to look at." He finally said. She drew her eyes together, confused.

"Excuse me?" She said.

"You. I saw you when you were a baby, weren't much to look at then and not much to look at now." He said and shrugged. "At least you got my eyes, that's one good thing about you. The rest, well, I just don't know why I even bothered with your mother. Guess I was in some sort of phase."

"I don't understand." She said, tears starting to well in her eyes. She felt like someone had kicked her, hearing that from him.

"Are you a simpleton too?" He asked. She looked at him and shook her head. He sat down on the large bed and looked at her. "So what brings you here?" He asked. She looked up at him and rubbed the tears out of her eyes.

"I came here to see you. I wanted to meet you." She said, her voice trembling.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because, you're my father." She said.

"Shit, I'm not your father little girl. I wanted your mother to get an abortion when she told me that she was pregnant." He said.

"But your parents came to my grandparents house on Christmas." She said.

"Yeah, I sent them there." He said. Kiera didn't know what was going on.

"You just said that you weren't my father." She said.

"Yeah, I sent them there so you would come here and then I could get your mother and that husband of hers here." He said. Kiera looked at him and noticed a long, jagged scar on the side of his face.

"How did you get that scar?" She asked. He looked at her and saw the interest in her face. She was almost blue she was so cold. He could have lit a fire for her, but why should he?

"I got that from a sandworm." He said.

"I'd never heard of that before." She said. He laughed at her. A cold one that was filled with bitterness and it made her shiver.

"It's a huge snake like thing." He said.

"Oh."

"So why did you want my mom and dad to come here?" She asked. He smiled at her and it was cold and calculating.

"For revenge of course." He said in a low voice.

"Revenge? For what?"

"Why, they killed me. I'm dead sweet cheeks."


	18. Manipulation

Thanks for the reviews. I'm so happy that you guys want to hear what's going to happen next!

Kiera's with her "real" father, John (he's such a jerk, even as a ghost). This is getting harder and harder to write now that I've gone this far. There are a few more things that need to happen and I'll be updating as soon as I can.

Read and Review!

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Kiera stared at him, she didn't understand what he was saying and he knew it. He smiled at her, it was mean and menacing and knew that he'd made the right choice when he ordered his sniveling parents to go find her out. 

"How can you be dead? I see you right here, you're standing right in front of me?" She asked. He just shook his head and laughed.

"You really must be stupid. There is no way you can be from my genes. You are all your stupid mother." He said.

"Don't call me or my mother stupid." She yelled at him. He suddenly changed from being rude to completely out of control.

"DON'T YOU DARE YELL AT ME YOU LITTLE BRAT!" He screamed at her, making her shrink into her chair. "You have no idea who you are dealing with. I have more power than you will ever know and I will use them to get Lydia and her husband, Beetlejuice." He said. Kiera shook in her chair as she stared at him. He began to pace back and forth in the room, smiling to himself. She was scared of him and that's exactly what he wanted from her. The more she was frightened, the easier it would be to manipulate her into getting what he wanted and the easier that husband of Lydia's would be able to find her.

"You said that they killed you. How?" She asked. She was scared, but she wanted to know. He reached up to touch the long, jagged scar that the sandworm gave him. He had eventually found out that everything that happened that night had been real. Everything that son of a bitch had done to him was real and he eventually realized that Lydia's husband was a ghost. There was no other way to explain his powers.

"Did you not hear me? I was attacked by a sandworm. You don't live through that."

"Yeah I heard that, but what does that have to do with my mom and dad?" She shivered again and didn't know if it was because she was cold or because of him.

"You really don't get it do you? Your father threw me into Saturn. That's where sandworms live before you ask me another stupid question." He said. He relished the thought of being able to throw that son of a bitch to Saturn and have him get eaten. The perfect revenge.

"I'm not stupid and I'm not ugly either." She said looking at him. He gave her a smile that made her shiver again.

"I hate to break it to you little girl, but you are. On both accounts. I don't get it personally. Your mother was a good looking woman and I know that I'm good looking too, so I don't know what the hell went wrong with you. Must have been the drugs." He said and shrugged.

"Drugs?"

"Yeah, I did some shit. Must've screwed you up."

"Why are you being so mean to me?" She just couldn't understand it. She had thought about what he'd be like for months and now that she met him she wondered why. It dawned on her that her parents had been right all along. They had told her that her real father wasn't nice, she should have believed them.

"What? Do you believe that I'd be falling over so happy that you'd come and find me? You think that your mother kept you away from me all those years? You just don't get it do you? I never wanted you, ever. I left your mother and only came back because I needed some cash. I saw you and shrugged. I don't care about you, I will never care about you. You need to get over this thing so I can think about what I'm going to do when your mother arrives." He said to her. Kiera looked at him and her eyes filled up with tears. She pulled her legs up to her body and hugged them, she was cold and scared and she wanted her father.

That thought made her feel even worse. She'd been so mean to him and her mother for a while now and they had been nothing but comforting. She'd yelled at them, screamed that she hated them. The last words that she said to him was that he wasn't her father. If she could, she'd give anything to take that back to have him here now.

"What the fuck are you crying about?" He asked when he turned back to look at her.

"I want my daddy." She cried out and started to sob. He rolled his eyes at her and turned away.

"Just go grow up. You wanted to come over here and so you did. I bet you even ran away in the middle of the night." He said. She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face.

"I thought so." He said and smiled. "God, I wish I could have been there when my parents told you that you were my daughter. That would've been priceless to see. I bet you cried all over the place." He laughed at her. She just continued to stare at him, the tears still slipping down. "Wipe your face for God sakes. You look like a snot nose." He said and turned to look out the window. He wished that he could leave the house that he hated so much. Now he was stuck here for over one hundred years and haunt it. He couldn't wait to get out when he was eighteen and now he was back,. At least his parents were still living here, that was the only good thing he could see. He was able to make them do what he wanted, just like when he was a kid.

When he first came back he wanted to immediately go after Lydia and Beetlejuice, but he didn't know what he was doing. It dawned on him that if he bid his time that he'd be able to be a force. He knew that Beetlejuice was strong and knew how to use his powers. If he'd come right after he'd died, there would have been no chance. He took his time, learning and perfecting what he could do and now he was ready for them.

Right from the start he knew exactly how he was going to get them to his house. Kiera had been the answer the whole time. She was the key and he was going to use her any way he could. She had played right into his plan, just as he had hoped she would and sooner than he thought too. Now all he had to do was wait for the rest to show up and his plan would be filled. He knew it wouldn't take long. Lydia loved the brat. He found that out when he'd been drunk that day and broke into Lydia's apartment. The brat had been crying her head off and all Lydia cared about was the kid. He also knew that Beetlejuice loved the kid too, but that was something he just couldn't understand.

Why one earth would he want to be around a kid that he didn't make? John didn't even want to be around her and he did make the kid. It just didn't make sense and he shook his head. He glanced back over at her, her tears had dried up and she kept her eyes on him. She really wasn't a bad looking kid, but he liked to see the shock on her face. He was willing to bet that she'd always heard how beautiful she was, just like her mother. He could see it, but he didn't want her to know it. Any chance of hurting her was like hurting Lydia and that was something he wanted to do desperately.

"What are you looking at?" She spat at him, keeping herself wrapped up tight.

"Since when do you have an attitude?" He spat back.

"Since I met you, you jerk." She said. He smiled at her, a real one.

"Maybe you do have a little of me in you." He said. She narrowed her eyes at him and kept her mouth shut. "Yeah, I can see it. You've got that mean streak in you. Play your cards right and maybe I'll let you hang around and show you a little bit."

"What could I learn from you?"

"You'd be surprised you know. I can get anyone to do anything I want them to. Just take a look at your mother, my parents and even you. I can twist people around and you could do that too." He said to her. She just shook her head.

"No, I'm not like that. I don't want to be like you. You're mean and rude and don't care about anyone but yourself. I know that my mom and dad are going to come and get me and then you'll be sorry." She said. He looked at her and laughed.

"I know they are little girl. I'm counting on that and when they do, I'll be ready for them. Then we'll see what I do with you. I just might hand you over to my parents. I'm sure they'll find some sort of use for you." He said and rubbed his hands together. Kiera kept her eyes on him, staring him down. She was afraid of him, but she knew deep down in herself that her parents would fight him. He might be dead, but her father was strong and he wouldn't go down without a fight. She smiled when she thought about that.

"What are you smiling at?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. She should be cowering in front of him. She'd shown a little streak of defiance, but that had melted away pretty quick.

"Nothing." She said and kept smiling to herself.


	19. They're Here

Thanks for the reviews, they really do help me out and give me the drive to keep going.

To My name...is Fabulous: John has been dead for about six years. I think I put seven, but it's six because Kiera was about to turn a year old in The Devil's in the Details. Beej and Lyds are back and ready to raise hell and Kiera is working on what's going on around her.

There's still a lot more that's going to happen and I'm working on it almost all the time. The other half is dedicated to Love comes in a Striped Suit.

I know that I have a lot of cliff hangers and I really don't mean to. When I write, I have a general idea of what's going to happen, but I don't know the details so every time I write I come up with new ideas and different ideas that I hadn't thought of before. So most of the time I'll write something down and then I'll get stuck on how to make it work so I have to come up with a good place to stop so I can think about what I'm going to do next. But to my credit I do update pretty quick.

So anyway back to the story. I hope you enjoy it and Review!

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Kiera kept her eyes on the snow falling outside the window. It seemed like it had been days since she'd arrived and she wanted to go home. She didn't want to think about the man or ghost, whatever he was that was sitting in the room with her. She had gotten up and pushed past him to walk out of the house and head to the train station. She'd rather brave the snow than be with him for another minute. He just locked her in, slamming the doors on her when she tried to walk out.

"If I gotta stay here, then you gotta stay here too." He said, making her sit back down. She went back over to the chair next to the window and kept a look out for her mother and father.

After the shock began to melt away and she began to understand what was going on, she began to think about all those months that she had wondered about what he would be like. She'd pictured him as some sort of hero, crushed by her mother and sent away from her. As silly as it sounded to her now she'd dreamed that she would come to see him and he would open up his arms to her and embrace her, telling her that he had wanted to come and see her. They would share a moment and sit down, talking about what had happened and what was going to happen. Instead she got insults from him and a plot to murder her parents. She wondered if he was telling the truth about them killing him. He did have that jagged scar along his face, but was that from her parents? She would have to make her parents tell her the truth this time, the whole truth.

Now she knew that her parents had been right all along about him. They told her that he wasn't nice, but she didn't believe them. Now that she was here she knew that they were right. Ever since she'd arrived he'd been nothing but rude and heartless. He hadn't even lit a fire or turned on the heat for her and she was so cold that her teeth were chattering and she couldn't feel her fingers and feet anymore. He seemed to get happier them more miserable he made her.

He'd called her stupid, ugly and told her that he didn't want her around him. She knew that the first two were lies, at least she kept telling herself that and for the other? She was ready to throw herself in her father's arms and never let go.

"Can I have something to eat?" She asked, she hadn't eaten all day and her stomach reminded her of that. He turned to look at her, the small little thing sitting next to the window.

"Why should I do that?" He asked her.

"It would be nice. I haven't eaten all day." She said, narrowing her eyes.

"I think you'll be able to survive."

"Well then can I at least have something hot to drink. I am freezing." She said, her voice shivering. He looked at her, she did have a little blue around her face and shrugged. He wasn't going to go out of his way to make her feel comfortable. She was just the means to an end and if she turned blue, it wasn't his problem.

"Fine." She said and turned back to look out the window. She was silent for a while before she began to wonder what he was going to do when her parents came to rescue her.

"What are you going to do when my parents get here?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the window. She had startled him, he had started to forget that she was there, she'd been so quiet.

"What?" He asked coming back down to the ground. He had been floating above the fireplace, thinking about how well his plan had followed through. She turned to look at him in the chair. She wasn't crying or angry which made him frown a bit. She just looked, well, blank.

"What are you going to do when my parents get here?" She said again, repeating each word slowly.

"I figured I'd screw around with them for a bit. Maybe pull your mother aside while I torture him a little or a lot. It depends on what mood I'm in when they get here. I think I want to let her watch a while and see who is stronger." He said and smiled as he toyed with that idea.

"Beetlejuice is stronger than you and he will always be stronger than you. You will never be able to win. I don't care if you're a ghost or not, you'll lose." She said and put her chin in the air. He blinked down at her, annoyed at the flicker of defiance in her. He walked over to her and slapped her face with his hand.

Kiera was shocked at the slap and the pain that followed, she'd never been slapped in her entire life. She slowly put her cold hand up to her cheek and felt the heat radiating from that spot. Bright tears sprung into her eyes as she held her cheek. He smiled at her tears that he caused her and walked back to where he was standing.

"You should have learned by now not to spout off stupid things around me. I'm not like your dad or whatever the hell he is. I don't tolerate that kind of behavior. I've given you some leeway, but now anything you say I will retaliate and that was just a small sample of what I can do to you and there's nothing that you can do to stop me. I am the stronger one and you'll see that when they get here. You'll get to see what happens when you mess with me, I'll torture them and laugh while I do before I throw them into Saturn to get eaten. A beautiful revenge that has been planned out to perfection. Then you'll be tossed out on your ear. Out of my way and out of my life. I could care less what happens." He said looking at her with a small amount of disgust. Kiera narrowed her eyes at him, but kept silent. She kept her hand on her face and turned back to look out the window. She hoped that her parents would be here soon. She was getting scared about what he would do to her now. If he would slap her for just saying something, there was no telling what he would do until they did get there.

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Lydia and Beetlejuice arrived at Thousand Islands in the middle of the snow.

"Where are we Babes?" Beetlejuice asked his wife looking around and seeing nothing but the swirling snow.

"I'm not sure, I know that we're on the island, but it's been so long since I was here that I couldn't really remember where their house was." Lydia said, looking around. "I know it's a huge house that is surrounded by a lot of land, but I can't remember which direction to turn." Lydia looked around her and started to feel desperate. She just wanted to get her baby and bring her home. Never coming back to this place ever again. Beetlejuice looked at Lydia and saw her starting to panic. The white snow was falling on her wild black hair as she looked around in all directions, her dark blue eyes confused.

"Don't worry Lyds, we'll be okay. Just relax and start to think about Kier. We'll be able to feel her. That's one thing that we didn't discuss when we were teaching you about your powers. You can feel the people that you love. Sense them and find where they are. That's how I found you all those years ago when that asshole kidnaped you." He said. Lydia nodded and closed her eyes and thought about her little daughter. She opened up her eyes and looked at Beetlejuice. He was smiling and she smiled too.

"I felt her, she's waiting for us." She said, relief in her voice.

"I felt her too, she's this way." He said and pulled Lydia to the left and they began to head out to get their daughter. After Lydia felt the relief that they had found Kiera she began to feel the rage bubbling up inside of her again the closer they got to their house.

"When I find those bastards, I'm going to tear them apart." She said starting to fume.

"You'll have to fight me to get to them first." Beetlejuice said, his own voice hard and angry. He couldn't think of anything he wanted more in the world than to tear those people limb from limb and get his daughter back. She would have laughed if she wasn't so consumed with her own anger. They continued in the direction that they felt Kiera in. Every step she was getting stronger and they could feel her becoming more intense as they got closer. Lydia stopped in her tracks after a while.

"What is it Babes?" Beetlejuice asked and followed Lydia's line of vision.

"There it is." She said.

"It looks like a haunted house." He said looking at the snow covered gargoyles and high peaked gables.

"I wouldn't be surprised, it creeped me out when John brought me here before. It reminded me of some sort of castle in a Grimm fairytale. Spooky and just the place to be killed." Lydia said. He turned to her and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight.

"You ready Babes?" He asked. She turned to him, looking into his emerald eyes that were now surrounded by black, just like her own.

"Lets go get our baby." She said. He smiled broadly, showing his teeth.

"It's Showtime Babes." He said. She nodded, her eyes lighting up with excitement and anticipation of seeing those two old geezers when they came barreling in. They kept their hands clasped together as they headed into the house, ready to raise hell.


	20. Showdown

Since I was demanded to update...(Smiles BJ smile and winks) ;D

We made it! The showdown is here and I had lots of fun coming up with it. I hope you guys like it too.

To My name...is Fabulous: Thanks for the compliment. Brilliant in an evil sort of way. You know I love it! ;)

Today's my birthday so I want lots and lots of reviews for presents :D besides I think this is a really cool chapter and I like it a lot. I want to know what you guys think!

Enjoy.

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Kiera saw a flash of black in the white out the window and smiled to herself. Her parents had come and now he was in for a shock. 

"What are you smiling at?" John asked when he saw Kiera's mouth turn up. She turned to look at him, her smile growing broader.

"You don't have a chance." She said. It took him a second to understand what she meant, but when he did he smiled.

"They're here." He said and rubbed his hands together. Beetlejuice blew the front door away and they stormed inside.

"KIERA!" They screamed together in the foyer of the mansion. John heard that and went over to Kiera and hauled her up by her arm.

"Ouch, you're hurting me." She said and tried to get her arm out of his grip. He just squeezed tighter and moved her towards the door.

"Yell for them." He hissed.

"No." She said. He yanked her arm around her back and pulled up until she did scream out in pain.

"This way Beej." Lydia said and they raced up the stairs. Beetlejuice never thought he'd be running a full sprint up two flights of stairs and down a hallway, but he was when he heard Kiera screaming out in pain. He had to get to his daughter as soon as possible. Lydia was right on his heels as they raced down.

"Kiera!" He called seeing her in the doorway.

"Daddy!" She called, but instead of reaching up she just stood there and shook her head. He stopped and kneeled down beside her. "No Dad, don't." She said, but it was too late. Beetlejuice looked up with enough time to see a bat come flying at his head. Kiera screamed when she saw her father knocked down at her feet. Lydia pulled up short when she saw Beetlejuice get hit.

"NO!" She screamed and ran up to her daughter. Kiera stood there seeing her father down at her feet. Lydia grabbed her daughter's shoulders and shook them so Kiera would look at her.

"Kiera, honey, are you okay?" She asked. Kiera looked at her mother and gasped. Her mother's face was liquid white and she had black circles around her eyes. She was even in a suit that looked like her dad's Halloween costume, just like the one her father was wearing now. She just shook her head.

"Hello Lydia." A smooth voice said. Lydia turned and her eyes widened. John stood there holding a baseball bat.

"What..." Lydia couldn't think of anything to say.

"Nice make up Baby." He said. She narrowed her eyes at him and yanked Kiera away from him, her husband fallen at her feet.

"Go find someplace to hide Kiera." She said, pushing her away. "I'm taking my daughter and husband and leaving John." Lydia said keeping her eyes locked on John.

"I don't think so." He said and wagged his finger at her. He grabbed her arm and yanked her into the room, slamming the door behind them.

Lydia stood in the middle of the room and watched John. He was circling her like a vulture ready to swoop down on her. Kiera was outside trying to wake up Beetlejuice, shaking his shoulders.

"How can you be here John?" She asked watching him circling her. He smiled at her, mean and dangerous.

"You haunt the last place you lived or died at. Since I died on Saturn by a sandworm I had to haunt the last place I lived, which was here." He said.

"Well then you won't mind if I just take my family home then." She said. He laughed at her, cold and bitter and lightly touched his scar.

"When your husband killed me I began to plot and make my revenge. Your little daughter played right into my hands. Didn't you raise her better than that?"

"Don't you dare talk about my daughter." She said looking at him through her lashes. He just continued to circle and smile at her.

"You don't seem to realize my dear Lydia, that I'm beyond powerful. You might have put on Halloween makeup, but I will still kill you. Then you'll be dead and here with me for a hundred years. The possibilities are endless." His voice was slick and smooth looking at her from every angle. "You've held up well Baby. Looking good for your age." It was Lydia's turn to smile at him, a small cold smile that would have frozen anyone on the spot.

"You think so?" She asked, her smile continuing to grow. She hoped that she'd be able to keep him distracted long enough for Beetlejuice to wake up.

"Please wake up Dad." Kiera said shaking his shoulder as hard as she could. She felt her throat close up and the tears starting to come again as she desperately tried to wake him. Beetlejuice could hear Kiera's voice from far away and opened one eye. His head felt like it was split in two and he slowly got up. "Dad." Kiera said and felt relief flood her. She threw herself around him and squeezed as hard as she could.

"Kiera, are you okay?" He asked, trying to shake himself back. She just kept squeezing him and he put his strong arms around her.

"I'm so sorry Daddy, I didn't mean any of what I said. You are my dad, not that...thing that it's in there. He's got Mama, Daddy. He'll kill her, he's a ghost and has powers." She said. Beetlejuice pried his daughter off of him to look into her eyes.

"It's okay Babydoll, we can talk about all of this later. Right now I need to get your mother so we can get out of here." He said. Kiera looked into his dark green eyes, now surrounded by black.

"He's scary and mean. He said he'll kill you and Mama." She said. Her soft green eyes glossed over. He smiled at her and gave her another tight hug.

"He's got another thing comin'. We'll have a lot more to explain later, but right now I want you to go and hide in a safe place." He said. Kiera looked at him and stood up. She nodded and turned to walk down the hallway.

Beetlejuice shook his head and turned to look at the closed door. He just looked at it and it broke off it's hinges and flew back, splinters of wood flying everywhere. Kiera gasped when she saw the door break away and her father hadn't even touched it. What was going on? She knew she should run downstairs and hide, but she just couldn't make herself go. She quietly crept back to the doorway to see what was going on.

John turned, startled when the door was destroyed. Beetlejuice emerged at the other side and walked in.

"Let my family go before I kill you all over again." He said in a low voice. John just grabbed Lydia's arm and pulled her to him. A knife emerged in his hand and he pressed it into her throat.

"Stay back, or I kill her." He said. Beetlejuice stopped in his tracks and saw John smile in victory. "I knew you'd do anything to protect her." He said and relaxed his grip a fraction on the knife.

"See there's your problem." Lydia said, her power building in her.

"What's that Baby?" He said, keeping his eyes on Beetlejuice.

"Thinking that I need protecting." She said and with more strength that he would have though possible, she burst from his grip and rose in the air. "You seem to think that you have everything figured out John. The only thing you weren't counting on was the fact that I was already dead." She hissed at him. She lifted him up and threw him against the wooden dresser, destroying it.

Kiera had her hand over her mouth to keep herself from making a sound as she peaked in the open doorway and slipped inside without anyone noticing her. John was shocked for a moment when he realized that Lydia had hurled him across the room and into the strong piece of furniture. He started to laugh, high and wild at her and lifted himself into the air.

"You think your small powers can hurt me?" He boomed. "I've been practicing for six years, I am so much more stronger than you are." He said and threw her against the wall.

"You might be stronger than her, but you're not stronger than I am. I am the ghost with the most." Beetlejuice said darkly and turned himself into the mangy black and white lion he'd been all those years ago for Delia.

"I'm pretty sure I am." John said and turned himself into a lion as well. They circled each other, tails whipping around and sharp claws out.

"Nice scar." Beetlejuice growled. "Did you have fun with the sandworms? I hope so because I'm going to send your ass back there."

"Not before I send you there first." John said and attacked. Beetlejuice was ready and reached up to slash John with his needle sharp claws.

Lydia shook herself back and got up from being thrown against the wall and saw the two lions fighting in front of her. She didn't see Kiera hiding right next to the bed as she turned herself into a pure black lion, large and powerful and leapt on John, attacking him with her claws and teeth.

It had taken him by surprise when Lydia jumped on him, scratching his eyes and stomach. He yelled out in pain, which ended up being a roar as Beetlejuice joined her and pinned him up against the wall. He slumped down and changed back to his own body. Lydia and Beetlejuice stopped and changed back into themselves, watching him slump down, his eyes closed. They looked at each other briefly before looking back at John and they slowly stepped back, away from him.

"It's over Babes." Beetlejuice said and took her hand, pulling her to him. She held on tight as he held her.

"Let's get out of here." She said against his chest.

"You fools. You think I would be that easy to get rid of?" John said. They both turned to see him rise up into the air. "I have been planning this for six years. There is no way I'm going down that easy." He said. He looked over their heads and smiled. Kiera had crouched down behind them in the destroyed room. She felt herself being pulled up into the air. She flew straight into John's outstretched arms and he grabbed her by the neck, squeezing her tight.

"Let go of her." Beetlejuice roared at him.

"I may not be able to kill Lydia, but I can still kill your precious little daughter. She'll stay here with her real daddy. You'd like that wouldn't you princess?" He asked her. Kiera kicked her legs in the air and struggled.

"Let me go." She gasped and he squeezed her neck tighter.

"Oh I'll let you go little girl, right off the tower. Then we'll see who has the last laugh." He said and flew out of the room.

"NO!" Lydia screamed and went to go after him, but Beetlejuice held her back. "What are you doing, let me go." She hissed.

"You go outside and keep a look out in case he does get a chance to throw her. I want you there to catch her. I'm going after him and I'll destroy him." He said looking at her. Lydia stopped struggling and nodded.

"You get that son of a bitch and make him suffer." She said in the darkest voice he'd ever heard. He nodded and left her racing up after John.

John kept a hold of Kiera by her neck, squeezing her tight. She struggled as much as she could, but she felt the air leaving her body and she was growing weak. She took small shallow breaths as he kept pulling her higher. They reached a doorway and he made the door fly off it's hinges and pulled her in there. He kept a hold of her and waited watching the door.

Lydia raced outside and looked up trying to find the tallest spot on the mansion. The snow was swirling around and falling heavy, making it hard to see. She prayed that Beetlejuice would get to John before he had a chance to do anything to her baby girl. She vowed right then that if anything happened to Kiera there would be hell to pay and she'd make sure that she was the one that was dishing it out.

"Let her go John. You don't want her anyway." Beetlejuice said. Kiera's eyes went to him and he saw them pleading with him. He turned to look back at John, keeping his eyes on John's wild ones.

"You're right I don't, but you do. Tell me ghost, what makes her so special?" He asked, holding her tight. Beetlejuice thought back to when Kiera was just a baby and he'd held her for the first time. She hadn't been afraid of him, she wanted him to hold her and pull her up to him.

"She's full of love John. That's something that you probably won't understand, but it's true. Even when she was just a baby she loved this mangy old ghost. Gave me a new lease on, well, life. She's willing to open up her heart, even to you. She came here to get to know you because she wanted to. No one forced her and you just used to her for something as petty as revenge, which you don't deserve anyway. Not will everything you have done." Beetlejuice said and saw John's eyes soften a fraction. "Just let her go John, you've tried and failed and she doesn't deserve this kind of treatment." He said.

"You're right, she probably doesn't. Seems like a good kid, but there is no way in hell that I'm going to let you win. With her here, maybe I can get to know the kid, I might learn to like her. I'll have over a hundred years to do it." He said and smiled. He threw let go of Kiera's neck and grabbed her by the waist, hurling her out the open window.

"NO!" Beetlejuice screamed and felt his stomach drop as he heard Kiera scream as she fell. He felt rage fill him up to overflowing and he reached for John, pulling him down by the collar of his shirt. He had taken John by surprise and he struggled against Beetlejuice's strong grip.

"You have stalked my wife, kidnaped her and tried to rape her. I killed you for that." He said pulling John's face close to his. John's eyes widened as he looked into Beetlejuice's wild dark green eyes. "You used my daughter to get my wife and I back here. You locked her up and made her feel unwanted. You think dying the first time was bad? Just wait until you die the second time. It's a real bitch." He said. John heard the threats in his voice and started to become scared of the ghost. With that they both disappeared.

Lydia looked up wildly when she heard Kiera scream and her heart dropped. She saw a flash of black hair up high against the white snow and flew up, racing against the wind, snow hitting her face. Please just let me reach her. She can't die. Lydia prayed to herself as she raced up, stretching her arms out. She saw Kiera flying down and reached up feeling her daughter slam against her chest and she locked her arms tightly around her daughter. They started to fall together as Lydia tried to get a hold of herself. She managed to stop the force of Kiera's drop and slowed them down to land safely on the ground.

Kiera held on to her mother for a long time as they sat in the snow. Lydia rubbed her back and rocked her gently. Kiera looked up at Lydia and couldn't help herself. Her eyes welled up again and she started to cry.

"It's okay Baby." Lydia whispered, shushing her daughter and rocking her even more. "You're okay. It's all over." They sat in the snow together. Lydia holding her daughter, still dressed in her black and white striped suit as the snow gently landed around them.

"Where are we?" John asked, his face next to Beetlejuice's. They were still floating high above the ground.

"You're favorite place in the entire universe." He spat out. John thought about his scar and wanted to groan.

"What are you going to do with me?" He asked trying to draw up all his strength. "I've already been eaten by a sandworm. I can take it again." He spat out. Beetlejuice just smiled at him, cold and dangerous before he whistled.

"They can smell your fear you know." He whispered low and menacing. John's eyes widened as he looked at Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice glanced up and saw the fin, followed by the black and white body and he smiled broader. "Here he comes." He said and held John out at arms length.

"Hey, Sandworm!" He screamed. The giant beast turned in their direction. "Come and get it!" He watched as John tried to struggle, hearing the sandworm roar and come up.

Beetlejuice watched as the sandworm came racing up. Normally he would have been terrified himself, but the rage overflowed every other emotion, consuming him. The sandworm reached up, its second head coming out and tore at John's lower half. John screamed in agony as he felt his body being torn away. Beetlejuice still held on to him and John gripped Beetlejuice's arms as tight as he could. Beetlejuice rose higher in the air when he saw that John's lower half was completely gone, only shreds remaining.

John looked at Beetlejuice's eyes and saw that they were filled with nothing but rage.

"You try and mess with my family again," He said in a low, hard whisper. He watched John's face contorting with agony as he gripped onto his arms and it made him smile. "Remember this and if I ever see your ugly face again this will seem like a day at the park." He looked down and saw the Sandworm waiting for his other half of his meal. John looked down too and gripped harder, his eyes wide with fear.

"Please don't." He pleaded. Beetlejuice just looked at him, no sympathy in him.

"Have a nice day." He sneered and hurled John down. He watched with little interest as the sandworm opened his mouth and swallowed the screaming John in one gulp. Beetlejuice saluted the creature since he was high enough that the sandworm couldn't get him and disappeared back to Lydia and Kiera.


	21. The Whole Truth

Thank you all for all of your wonderful comments. They've revived me and gave me a whole second wind with this story. I was wondering about this story for a while, but not now.

Chapter 21 Showdown and Chapter 13 BJ's Past have GOT to be my favorite chapters of this whole story, but I've got a biased opinion. :) So now Kiera knows it all.

But there's still more to come! Can you believe it?

Enjoy and Review!

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Beetlejuice walked outside, still fuming from his encounter with John. He saw Lydia sitting in the snow holding Kiera who was sobbing against her. 

"Kiera." He called to her. Kiera heard her father's voice and turned her head. She tried to get up, but she was so cold that she just fell against her mother. Beetlejuice started running and when he got to her he pulled her up into his arms. She shivered against him, both from crying and from freezing.

"Baby, your so cold." He said looking at her. Her pale skin was now tinged with blue and snowflakes stuck to her black hair and face. She nodded and felt the tears welling up again and she turned her head into his chest.

"We have to get her home." Lydia said. Beetlejuice nodded and felt Lydia put her arms around both him and Kiera as they snapped back to their house.

Kiera looked back up and saw that they were standing in their living room. Beetlejuice still had her in his arms and he walked up the stairs.

"I want to know everything." She said weakly.

"We will sit down and tell you everything, but right now you have to get warm or else your fingers are going to fall off." He said. She gave a small smile and he laughed. "There we go Babydoll." He said. He set her down on her bed and bent down to look in her eyes.

"You promise that you and Mom are going to tell me everything?" She asked. He grabbed her hands and they were colder than his were.

"I promise, get into your pajamas and come back downstairs and we'll tell you everything you want to know." He said.

"No holding back?"

"No holding back." He said. She smiled and put her arms around his neck.

"I really am sorry Dad. I didn't mean those things I said." She whispered. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed.

"I know you didn't Kier. Your mother and I understand." He said. She pulled back and nodded. Beetlejuice left her and walked back downstairs to where Lydia was sitting on the couch, her head in her hands. He walked up closer to see that she was crying silently. He sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms.

"We could have lost her." She sobbed into his arms. He didn't even want to think about that idea, it scared him to his toes.

"There is no way that we would have lost her Babes. I knew that you would catch her." He said, rubbing her back.

Lydia looked up at her husband, her eyes red and sore from crying and narrowed him. She gripped the lapels on his jacket and yanked hard on them.

"Tell me that you tortured that son of a bitch." She seethed.

"Let's just say that I gave the sandworm half of his meal, then the rest." He smiled. "You shoulda' seen his face as he fell down." Beetlejuice said. John's face was contorted into a mixture of panic and horror as he fell down, screaming high and loud as his upper body went to meet with his lower body, shreds of shirt and skin flying in the wind.

"Why didn't you exorcize him? Get rid of him permanently?" She asked. If Beetlejuice would have exorcized him then they wouldn't have to worry about him ever again.

"I thought about it, seriously Babes, but I wanted him to suffer for as long as possible."

"How?"

"Well ya see Babes, when you die again you go back into the waiting room, which sucks. Then if your torn apart, you don't automatically go back together. It stays that way for a while before you can have it reconnected. It's kinda like going to Juno. You gotta wait, then you gotta get called, then you gotta have some doctors reattach your body. I think it ends up taking up to a few years before you can have it done. Then on top of that he has to go back to that house. I figured that he hated that house so spending another hundred and twenty years or so in there is gonna be hell for him. After that I figure that we'll exorcize him. Only after he's suffered a good long time. Gotta torture him Babes, he doesn't deserve to be exorcized so quickly." He said. Lydia smiled at him, through the tears.

"I see, you're evil." She said, wiping away her tears. He laughed and pulled her in to kiss her cheek.

"You got it."

Kiera walked down the stairs, she was still cold, but she didn't care. She needed to hear everything as soon as possible. She saw her parents on the couch together and took a deep breath as she headed towards them.

"I'm ready." She said and they looked up to see her. Lydia held out her hand and grabbed Kiera's, pulling her in between them and wrapping a blanket around her.

"You getting any warmer?" She asked, holding her daughter.

"Yeah, I am. Can we get started now?" She asked. Lydia smiled down at her daughter and got comfortable. Kiera was sitting in her lap and she leaned up against the arm of the sofa, throwing her legs over Beetlejuice's legs.

"Where do you want to begin?" Lydia asked.

"The beginning. I want to know everything." Kiera said. Lydia looked up at Beetlejuice and he smiled, a sadness in his eyes.

"We really didn't want you or your sister to know this until you were much older, but with everything that has happened, you deserve to know the truth and all of it. I guess we should start with the fact that I'm a ghost, have been for a long time." He said.

"When did you die? How did you die?" She asked looking at him. She didn't seem upset or angry, but curious. Maybe she was still in shock over it and it would come later, but he prayed that it didn't.

"I died way back in 1367, about sixteen years after the Black Plague ended. I was thirty six years old. I died because I got into a fight and someone knocked me out. They threw me out into the streets and it started to snow." He said and took a deep breath. He didn't like reliving that, but Kiera asked so he'd tell her. He didn't want any more lies in his family anymore.

"So when did you meet Mom?"

"I met your mother when she was seventeen years old. Your grandfather and grandmother just moved into their house and there were a couple of ghosts who lived there that didn't want them there. In fact, they're still there." He said.

"Aunt Barbara and Uncle Adam." Kiera said.

"Exactly. Back then I was what you call a Bio-Exorcist. I got rid of the living in ghosts houses."

"But Aunt Barbara and Uncle Adam get along great with Grandma and Grandpa." Kiera said.

"Now they do, but back then it was an entirely different story." Lydia said. "I meet Beetlejuice because he wanted to get out. See he was restricted to stay in the afterlife and he wanted to be out in the living. To do that he needed to get married to a living woman. He chose me." Lydia said.

"So you weren't dead then?" Kiera asked.

"No Babydoll, I was very much alive." Lydia said.

"Your mother wasn't too keen on me back then. In fact the only reason she agreed to marry me was because she wanted to save Adam and Barbara from being exorcized. I sort of forced your mother into marrying me and well, it happened." Beetlejuice said.

"Wait a minute," Kiera said. "Mom told me that right after you were married that you were separated for a long time. What happened?"

"Well, I was eaten by a sandworm." He said and smiled.

"You mean that thing that...he was talking about?" Kiera asked and Beetlejuice nodded.

"Barbara was trying to send me back and I zapped her to Saturn, that's where sandworms live. Well she came back riding one and I was eaten by it. I had to spend five years in a place called the waiting room before I could be released. Since I was married to your mother I had to be released, no one could stop me even if they wanted to."

"Why would they want to?"

"I wasn't exactly the nicest guy. You know when I get angry, that's pretty much what I was like all the time." Kiera knew exactly what her dad was like when he was angry. He flew off the handle, yelling and screaming. It was scary, even if you were used to it.

"I had to get on with the rest of my life after that. I didn't know how long Beetlejuice was going to be gone. Juno told me that she'd keep him there for as long as she could so I live. I moved to New York and met...him." Lydia couldn't make herself say his name. "I told you this before, but we were friends and then we dated and I found out I was pregnant. He told me that he didn't want anything to do with you or me and left. I carried you and had you by myself. When you were nine months old Beetlejuice was released."

"I was told by Juno," Beetlejuice started.

"Who's Juno?" Kiera asked, interrupting him.

"She was my case worker, Adam and Barbara's too. She told us that when I married your mother I had to stay with her. I couldn't go run wild like I thought I was going to be able to. So I went to see your mother. She was twenty three by then and grown up. I never saw a more beautiful woman and I think I fell in love with her the moment I laid eyes on her again." He said. Lydia smiled at him and reached out to hold his hand. Kiera rolled her eyes.

"Then what happened?"

"Your mother introduced me to you and from the moment I laid eyes on you I knew that you were perfect. You giggled and laughed up at me and I just melted on the spot. After that we settled into a life, sort of. I slept on the couch and got a job tried to get to know your mother."

"I was starting to fall in love and it was quick, but I got very scared. Since we hadn't had the best past I didn't know what I was doing and I told him I needed to take things slow and get to know him as a friend first." Lydia explained.

"Things were going pretty well until your mother started getting phone calls and flowers from...him." Beetlejuice felt the rage boil in him even if he thought about John. "He said that he wanted her back, but your mother didn't want anything to do with him." He said with a thick smugness in his voice. Lydia rolled her eyes at him and he gave her a lopsided smile.

"I didn't want anything to do with him because of you, well, because of Beej too, but it was mostly you. Any one who could be so cruel as to leave you I could never forgive. Besides I think I'd already fallen in love with," Lydia really wasn't sure how to address Beetlejuice to Kiera now. She furrowed her brow and thought.

"With Dad." Kiera said and smiled at Beetlejuice. Lydia smiled down at her daughter and dropped a kiss on her head.

"Exactly, with your father." She said, her heart filling her up.

"So what happened after that?" Kiera asked.

"Well some very bad things happened. John,"

"Don't say that name in this house." Beetlejuice said darkly. Lydia looked at him.

"I had to. He came after me and scared me, but I made managed to get away. It was the day that you had your check up with the doctor. We came home and I had you all to myself, which was a rare thing back then. I was working very hard back then so I just got to see you at night for a little bit when I got home and had to put you to bed. I was so happy that I had some time with you. We sat on the floor and played when there was a knock at the door." Lydia said and took a deep breath and dropped her eyes. She never wanted either of her children to know what had gone on back then. She just wanted to forget about it.

"It's okay Lyds." Beetlejuice coaxed.

"It's so hard. Kiera, you have no idea, how evil that man was." Lydia said.

"I want to know Mom, please?" Kiera asked. Lydia looked down into her daughter's eyes and saw them pleading with her. She sighed and gave in.

"It was John, he burst into the apartment that we had and he was very drunk. He picked you up and dropped you. You were screaming so loud and when I reached to get you," Lydia said and her throat closed on her. She felt the tears rising up in her and she pushed them back. Her daughter didn't need to see her cry. "He grabbed me and pulled me away from you and knocked me down to the ground. He tried to rape me Kier. You were screaming and crying, your pretty face red with tears and I tried to reach you, but he beat me up." Lydia shook her head not able to finish.

"I walked in right before it happened and I pulled him up off of your mother and she ran over to you. I grabbed him and beat him until he slumped down. I would have killed him then, but your mother said that you had been through enough. We called the police and he was arrested." Beetlejuice said, his voice barely restrained.

"How bad did he beat you?" Kiera asked.

"I had two black eyes and bruises all over." Lydia said. Kiera looked at her mother. She looked like she was about to cry, but she didn't. "I wanted to come home then and so your father took us. He took care of everything and brought us to your grandma and grandpa's house. We stayed there for a little bit and you said your first word there." Lydia said softly.

"Dada." Kiera said and smiled. She'd heard that story a hundred times, but it seemed so much more important now.

"Yes." Beetlejuice said thick with pride. "When we were here we got news that he was out on bail. I wanted to keep you and your mother safe so I went back to the city and took care of things there. Your mother stayed behind to find us a place to live. When I was gone he came back to find your mother and kidnaped her."

"He told me that he only wanted me to get money. He took me away from you and from my family because he needed money to buy more drugs."

"What happened Mom?" Kiera asked softly.

"I came back early and your grandfather told me that your mother had been taken. I left to find her, changing back into my old self, which is what I look like now and every Halloween. This is what I wore all of the time and what I looked like. I found them and I was so angry that I sent him to Saturn where he was eaten." Beetlejuice said bitterly.

Kiera shook her head at the whole situation. She knew that he was mean when she talked to him, but to know that he did all of that other stuff. She wished they would have told her sooner, but she knew why they didn't.

"After that we decided to get remarried. We wanted a clean start and we got one." Lydia said and smiled.

"So when did you die Mom?" Kiera asked. Lydia looked at her daughter and sighed.

"Just a few months ago, back before Halloween."

"Oh," Kiera said she knew exactly when her mother died. "You didn't survive the accident you had in the river."

"No, I didn't." Lydia said. Kiera sat there in silence for a few minutes, taking it all in. Her parents were dead. It didn't seem possible, but there it was. She'd seen their powers for herself just a few hours ago.

"So those powers that you have...what else can you do?" Kiera asked. Lydia smiled at her daughter.

"Pretty much anything, really." Lydia said.

"Like what? Show me." Kiera said excitedly. Beetlejuice laughed at his daughter and got up from the couch. He changed from the clothes that he wore to a dog, then back and into a pair of jeans and shirt. Kiera laughed at him.

"What about you?" She asked turning to her mother. Lydia smiled and lifted her daughter into the air. Kiera giggled as she floated about and Lydia gently placed her back on the ground.

"This is so cool. I mean you've got powers. How many kids at my school can say that their parents have powers." She said.

"I think we're the only ones." Lydia said, a powerful relief washing over her, Kiera wasn't mad or upset that they were dead. She was too interested in what they could do.

"Wait a minute," Kiera said and furrowed her brow. "How come you and Dad can walk around, but Aunt Barbara, Uncle Adam and...him can't?" Kiera asked.

"When I married your mother we were bound to a contract. In that contract we were supposed to separate when your mother died, but on that night when I rescued your mother when she was kidnaped we finally professed our love for one another and Juno came, telling us that with the bonds of love she was set free from haunting and we could stay together forever." Beetlejuice explained.

"I see, so they have to stay in one place for a long time and since you love each other and got married you're free?" Kiera asked.

"Pretty much." He said. She nodded her head and smiled.

"Cool." She said. She saw the smiles on their faces and sighed. They weren't a normal family, since her parents were dead, but it was her family and she loved them.

"So how come you don't look like a billion years old?" She asked Beetlejuice.

"When you die, time stops for your body. I will always look like I'm thirty six and your mother will always look like she is twenty nine, forever." He said.

"Hmm, that's a lot." She said.

"Yes it is." He agreed. "Can you accept that?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay. Grandma's gallery...that was you wasn't it Dad?"

"You're too smart for your own good." He said.

"I recognized you when you turned into that lion. It was just like the sculpture Grandma made."

"She wanted me to model for her." He said and laughed.

"Now you and Mom and model." She said.

"You're the first person we told about your mother." He said.

"I think everyone needs to know. Especially Gwenny, she'll love it when you lift her up in the air like you did me." Kiera said. Lydia looked at Beetlejuice and took his hand.

"Do you think it's time?" She asked.

"It's better that the whole truth is out now. I don't want us to have to go through any of this again." He said and Lydia nodded.

"Let's go get our other baby." She said.

"Can we poof ourselves there?" Kiera asked and made her parents laugh.


	22. Another World

You guys...It's not over yet!!! I do appreciate and love all of your reviews saying that you loved this story, but I've still got more in me!! You can't get rid of me that easily ;)

But I did get a question about maybe doing a third installment and the answer is, that yes I have been thinking about doing a third installment after this story is over, but you'll just have to wait and see how I end this one first!!!!

Enjoy and Review!!!

* * *

Gwen looked at her parents and blinked. They'd just sat down and told her most of the story. Not the ugly parts with John, but the fact that they were ghosts. Charles and Delia sat together and held each other's hands as they listened to Lydia explain that she was no longer alive. 

"I'm sorry Dad, Delia. I probably should have told you sooner, but I was still in a state of shock." Lydia said looking at them. Charles looked up at his daughter, she wasn't living anymore and hadn't been for some time.

"It's okay Pumpkin, we know why you didn't." He said. Lydia smiled a little bit and looked over at her youngest daughter.

"Are you okay Gwenny?" She asked.

"I guess, so you and Dad are really dead?" She asked her mother. Lydia nodded and gave a sad smile to her.

"That's okay Gwenny, you should see all the cool stuff that they can do." Kiera said. She'd been sitting with her sister the whole time, her arm around her.

"Like what?" She asked.

"Show her Dad." Kiera said and Beetlejuice let out a chuckle. He snapped his fingers and Gwen felt herself rising up into the air. Her eyes opened wide as she looked around, floating high above everyone else. Lydia snapped her fingers and Kiera was rising too, giggling. Gwen looked at her big sister and saw that she liked it and she began to relax and smile too.

"Just think Gwenny, our parents are the coolest parents around. They can do all sorts of stuff. I saw Mom and Dad turn into animals and they change their clothes and everything. It's awesome." Kiera said.

"Really? You can change into animals?" Gwen asked as they floated back down to the ground.

"All that and more Babydoll." Beetlejuice said and smiled at her. Gwen smiled back at him and walked over to hug him. He lifted her up into his arms.

"I'm still the same right? Nothings changed?" He asked her. She pulled back to look at his face, using her hands to feel. She shook her head and he chuckled giving her a squeeze until she squeaked. Lydia held out her own arms and Beetlejuice gave Gwen over to her.

"I know this seems strange Gwen, but we're still a family and we'll always be a family won't we?" She asked. Gwen nodded. She wanted to see her parents change into animals and started to ask, but let out a yawn instead. Lydia laughed at her daughter and hugged her.

"I think we better get this little girl home and into bed. It's been a very long day." She said. Charles and Delia nodded and watched as Beetlejuice picked up Kiera and they all disappeared right before their eyes.

"I just can't believe it Charles." Delia said shaking her head when they left.

"I can, I had a suspicion that my little Pumpkin didn't survive, I just hoped that I was wrong. She's happy though and that's what matters." He said. Delia looked over at her husband and sighed. She supposed he was right, there was no way they could change anything and she didn't really want to. Her granddaughters were happy and Kiera was back and safe. They didn't tell them what happened to John, but maybe they'd tell them later when the girls weren't there to hear it.

"Are you sure this is going to work? I can't be waiting around for three months to see her." Lydia asked.

"We're sure, we made the appointment for you as soon as you asked us to." Barbara said. Lydia nodded and waited for Adam to draw a door in white chalk and make a doorknob. Lydia took a deep breath and reached out to open the door. She'd never been to the waiting room before. It really was like going to some government office.

"Can I help you?" The blue receptionist asked.

"I'm Lydia Juice, I have an appointment to see Juno." Lydia said. She nodded and shuffled through some files.

"Ah, here it is. You can go down the hall and to the right." She said. Lydia nodded and walked through, avoiding contact with the people who were waiting. She came across a smoke filled room and slowly entered.

"Hello?" She asked. The elderly woman looked up and Lydia could see the slit across her throat.

"Ah, I was wondering when I'd see you Mrs. Juice." Juno said and gave a slight smile. Lydia smiled and walked in, taking a seat.

"So what's your problem with him?" She asked. Lydia couldn't help herself, she burst out laughing.

"Quick to assume." She said and shook her head. "Nothing, he's perfect, our family is perfect, well now anyway." She said and smiled.

"So what do you want from me. I am a busy woman you know." She said.

"I know, I wanted to know if you could find Beetlejuice's sister for me. She died around 1349 in England of the plague. Her name is Bella." Lydia said. Juno raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"I see." She said and got up and walked out the door. Lydia followed her down the hallway and into a massive room.

"What is this place?" Lydia said, her voice echoing off into the distance.

"This is our records room. You'll find what you need here." She said. Lydia looked around.

"There's no way I'll be able to go through all of this." Lydia said. Juno just chuckled at her and took out a cigarette, lighting it.

"You said her name was Bella?" She asked and Lydia nodded.

"Name, Bella. Date 1349." Juno called out in her raspy voice. One file floated to her and she handed it to Lydia. "There you go Mrs. Juice." She said. Lydia flipped through the file and saw an address.

"Is this where she lives?" She asked. Juno glanced at the address and nodded.

"Yes, that's in the afterlife, you'll have to go there to find her." She said.

"I've never been there. I don't even know how to get there." Lydia said.

"When you go back home, just look into a mirror and if you look long enough, you'll see another world. It's then that you can enter." She said. Lydia nodded and thanked Juno before she headed back to her own world.

"What did you find out?" Barbara asked when Lydia came back through.

"I found her." Lydia said and smiled and held up the file. "Now I just have to get her."

Lydia raced home and hoped that she would be able to go find Bella and return without being gone too long. She walked into her bedroom and sat down at her mirror. Beetlejuice had already fixed it so she could see her reflection and she stared at her own face, hoping that she would see something soon. It didn't take long before her own face began to fade and she began to see a city appear before her. She took a deep breath and touched the mirror. She gasped when her hand slid right through it.

"Now or never." She said and plunged through.

She fell down on her hands and knees and looked around. It was like nothing she'd ever seen before. It looked like it was a constant underground party world. Live with bright color against a black background.

"I need a taxi." She said to herself. A car flew up next to her and stopped. Lydia screamed and covered her face.

"You called for a taxi?" A man asked, rolling down the window. One side of his face was torn apart. She gulped and nodded as she got inside.

"I need to go to this address." She said and gave him the number. "Can you get me there?"

"I know the place." He said and zoomed away. Lydia watched as the nightclub atmosphere started to melt away and it looked like some sort of forest area emerging. It was unlike anything on earth with strange trees and flowers blooming. Something out of a fairytale, strange and beautiful. There was a small English cottage on a hill with flowers blooming all around.

"Here ya go." He said and held out his hand.

"Oh, all I have is some money from the real world." She said pulling out a few twenties that she had in her pocket. He looked like it was a gold mine.

"That'll work." He said and reached out to grab it. She got out of the car and walked up to the cottage and knocked on the door, holding her breath. A young woman answered the door and she knew immediately that she was Bella. She had long light brown hair that reached down to her waist and soft grey eyes, dressed in a soft white gown with long belled sleeves.

"Can I help you?" She asked, smiling at Lydia. Lydia smiled back at her.

"Can I come in Bella?" She asked. Bella furrowed her brow and opened the door wide.

"I don't believe I've met you before." She said when Lydia walked in the house.

"You haven't. My name is Lydia Juice. I'm your brother's wife." She said. Bella opened her mouth and closed it again.

"My older brother? Betelgeuse?" She asked and Lydia nodded. "Oh my. I haven't seen in over six hundred years." She said and sat down.

"I know. He told me that you two were very close and I was hoping that you'd want to come and see him. He lives in the real world now, with me and our two daughters." She said sitting down next to her sister-in-law. Bella looked up at Lydia and tears misted her eyes.

"I would love to see him again." She said and smiled through her misty eyes.


	23. Like Brother Like Sister

Thanks for keeping with me through this. I just had to get this part down, when I introduced it all the way back in Chapter 13. I just couldn't let Beej have a past without it coming back up...in a good way of course :) Bella and Beej get to meet for the first time in a LONG time and it was fun to see the brother sister intaction between them. Hope you like it.

Thanks to everyone who has read this story and especially to those who review! You know it keeps me going ;)

Read, Enjoy and Review!

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"Where's Mom?" Gwen asked when they jumped into the backseat of Beetlejuice's car. "And why can't we poof ourselves like we did coming home from Grandma and Grandpa's?"

"We still have to look like we're normal Gwenny. I'm not sure where your mother is, but she called me and said that she was running late on a few errands. She should be back soon pretty soon though." He said and headed for home.

They got home and both girls barreled into the house dropping their backpacks and running up the stairs to change out of their school uniforms and into their regular clothes. Beetlejuice walked in and took of his jacket.

"Lyds, you here?" He called.

"In here Beej." She said in the kitchen. "Just got home a few minutes ago." Beetlejuice walked into the kitchen and froze. He saw his wife sitting there with a cup of tea and right across from him was his sister, Bella. She hadn't changed in the time they had been apart. She was still the beautiful girl who laughed and smiled, her long hair soft and shinny and her grey eyes sparkling at him.

"B, it's been too long." She said and got up. He reached her and grabbed onto her tight, squeezing her and she squeezed back just as hard. She still had on the dress that he had her buried in all those centuries ago. It didn't seem real, her standing in his kitchen like no time had ever passed in between them. Her eyes were shinny with tears that were threatening to fall.

"How did you find me?" He asked her when they broke their hug and he looked into those grey eyes of hers.

"I didn't. Your lovely wife found me." She said and smiled, perfect white teeth showing and a tear slipped down her cheek as she stared at her brother. Beetlejuice looked over at Lydia who was still sitting at the table, her eyes misting over.

"Babes, you did this?" He asked in awe of her. She just nodded, unable to speak at the moment she was witnessing. "You're amazing." Beetlejuice never thought he could love his wife any more than he already did, but somehow it grew so much more.

"What's to eat?" Kiera asked when she came into the kitchen dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt. She stopped suddenly causing Gwen to run into the back of her when she saw the other woman in the room standing close to her father. "Hi." She said awkwardly.

"Hello." She said and smiled. Kiera looked at her father and mother in question.

"Kiera, Gwen, this is my sister Bella. Bella, these are my daughters, Kiera and Guinevere." Beetlejuice said smiling. The woman bent down to Kiera's height and held out her hand.

"Your mother was telling me about you. You are as pretty as she is." She said when Kiera shook her hand.

"So, you're dead too?" Gwen asked making Bella laugh.

"Yes Guinevere, I'm dead." She said a twinkle in her eye.

"Call me Gwen, I'm only called Guinevere when I'm in trouble." She said. Bella smiled down at her.

"She looks just like you B. Except she has her mother's eyes and you," She said turning to Kiera. "Look exactly like you're mother. You both will stop hearts when you get older." She said making both girls blush and both parents swell with pride.

"How come you're still dressed in the garb you wore when I had you buried?" Beetlejuice asked as they walked into the living room to sit down. Kiera and Gwen sitting at Bella's feet, staring with fascination at Bella. She seemed too graceful and polite to be related to their father. Not that they didn't love him very much, but he wasn't exactly the smoothest person they knew.

"I secluded myself after I died so I haven't had much contact with the real world and I honestly never thought about it." She said, shrugging.

"Let me change that for ya." Beetlejuice said and snapped his fingers. The girls watched as the long and flowing dress was morphed into a dark purple sweater and a grey skirt. "What do ya think?" He asked. Bella looked at what she was wearing, not used to the tighter fitting clothes, but she did like them.

"You remembered my favorite color." She said and smiled up at him with undeniable awe.

"Course I did Bell, you are my sister after all." He said.

Kiera and Gwen copped a fit when Lydia told them it was time for bed hours later. They had been talking the whole time and wanted to hear more about their new Aunt Bella.

"Please Mom just a little longer?" Gwen begged, but Lydia held firm.

"You two have school tomorrow and I don't want to hear another word about it. Your Aunt Bella will be still be here in the morning." She said crossing her arms. Gwen and Kiera knew when their mother was serious and they both gave a huge, dramatic sigh before walking upstairs.

"Why didn't you ever come and see me B? I was so lonely all those years and I missed you so much. Even when we were alive you didn't visit after Mother died." Bella asked when the girls had left the room, her eyes big and wide as she looked up at her older brother. Beetlejuice looked at his sister and sighed, shaking his head.

"Hell I don't know Bella. I think I just wanted to forget everything ever happened ya know? It was pretty bad and who wanted to relive it?"

"I know it was bad, but still. I thought we were close." Bella said, tears forming in her eyes.

"We are close Bell. Now we can be even closer. It just killed me to see you knocked down by that...that..." He couldn't even finish his sentence, he hated the man so much.

"I know B, but what could I do? I couldn't leave him there without me. He needed me and I had an obligation to him, he was my father after all." Bella said in her soothing voice.

"Yes you could have Bella." Beetlejuice said his anger rising.

"You have no idea what my life was like Betelgeuse." Bella said, her voice monotone and dull. "I had no life after Mother died and you left. He just kept tearing me down until I had nothing. I couldn't even begin to think about not leaving him. I just accepted everything and when I got sick I just gave up."

"But you didn't have to." Beetlejuice said. He still didn't understand his sister's reasoning behind any of it. She looked at him, her grey eyes dark and sighed.

"You don't understand B. When someone beats you down so much, you begin to believe it. After you left, I had no protector. You were my protector and he knew it, but he kept himself in check until after Mother died and that's when everything changed. I had no one after that, even you were gone." She said sadly.

"Bell, you've got to get that fire back in you. You're killing me here." Beetlejuice said.

"Let her alone Beej. Bella's had a hard time for a long time. Just because you tell her to get that spirit back doesn't mean it's going to come back easily. I should know." Lydia said. She'd been quiet letting brother and sister talk, but now she had to speak.

"What are you talking about Babes? I've never seen you without a little fire in your eyes." Beetlejuice said. She smiled and shook her head.

"You of all people should know. Him of course, he beat me down pretty badly Beej. It wasn't until I had Kiera that I had something to fight for. Bella never got that chance." She said and looked over at her new sister-in-law. Bella smiled at her and nodded, knowing that she understood. Beetlejuice looked from his wife to his sister and back again before he rolled his eyes.

"Must be a chick thing." He said and walked off hearing them laugh at him as he left. Bella watched carefully as Beetlejuice left the room before she turned to Lydia, a sparkle in her eyes.

"You know after I died everything changed." Bella said, smiling devilishly.

"How's that?" Lydia asked.

"I did get everything back and with a vengeance after I was no longer under the control of that miserable old man." She spat out, clear disgust in her face. "I never really lost it actually. I just kept myself in check, letting him think that I was doing everything he wanted me too. I mean I did lose a lot of myself, but I always remembered B and that's what got me through a lot of the tough times."

"So why didn't you say anything to Beej?" Lydia asked, one eyebrow raised. Bella winked at her, an unmistakable mischievous look that her husband did so well. Right then she knew that Bella and Beetlejuice were two peas in the same pod.

"Just to toy with him a little bit." She said and smiled. Lydia burst out laughing and hugged her.

"I think we're going to be great friends Bella. What are you going to do to let him know?" She asked.

"Oh I have a few things I want to do, get a little sympathy from him. Six hundred years is a long time to not come and visit your sister. He deserves a little payback." She said, smiling at her with a little devil in her eyes. Lydia laughed lightly and thought about her husband who was pouting somewhere in the house. She should probably tell him that his sister was teasing him, but it was too much fun to make him sit and squirm, trying to get his old sister back when she was standing right underneath his nose.

"I just don't understand it Lyds. Bella has had such a long time to get back to what she was, why hasn't she?" He asked as they laid in bed. Lydia turned to him, his face pulled together in deep concentration and confusion. She smiled and reached up to stroke his cheek, knowing full and well that Bella was tricking him and almost felt bad for him. His sister was just like him. Maybe it was a good thing to make him eat a little crow after the pranks that he'd pulled for so long. At least until they'd met again and he turned a new leaf. She had a feeling that it wasn't just her that made him do that, but Kiera as well. She made a mental note to tell Kiera that in the morning and let the girls in on their little secret. She knew they'd get a kick out of seeing their dad have a prank pulled on him.

"Things like that take time Beej, apparently a lot of time." She said and smiled. He just sighed and shook his head.

"It's just not fair. I'll have to make her see that this isn't the way she should act. I don't want her to be so unhappy anymore."

"She won't be, not ever. We'll make sure of that." Lydia said. Beetlejuice turned to his wife and smiled slightly.

"You bet we will." He said and winked at her. She laughed softly and cuddled in to fall asleep. Beetlejuice put his arm around her, but stayed awake. How could he make Bella see that she didn't have to be obedient? In fact, he liked a little challenge in both Lyds and the girls. It made his afterlife seem more exciting than it had ever been when he was just bumming around. He furrowed his brow and thought hard late into the night while his wife slept about what he could do?


	24. My Girls

Bella's a girl after my own heart. I love the fact that she's just like Beej, but I also love the fact that he's changed so much that it's killing him to see her acting so ho-hum when she's really just screwing with him.

Hope you enjoy, there's a sweet part at the end that I thought was cute. ;)

Read, Enjoy and Review!!

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Beetlejuice paced back and forth in the living room a week later as Bella sat quietly in the chair, her hands folded in her lap. 

"Dammit Bell yell, scream or somethin'. You've got to be angry that I didn't come and see you when I died." He pleaded with her. It took everything in her power to not start laughing at him, but she sat there with a serene look on her face and gave him the tiniest of smiles.

"I'm not angry that you didn't come visit me. I understand B." She said calmly. This was too much fun making him squirm with guilt as she sat there. Of course she was angry that her older brother didn't come visit her, how could she not be? At the same time this was just the revenge that made her smile. Bella and Lydia had already let Kiera and Gwen in on their secret that morning.

"Now you promise not to tell your father?" Lydia asked her daughters.

"We promise." They said in unison. Lydia held out her two pinky fingers to them.

"Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear." They said again and grabbed her fingers with their own and shook on it. It was the most solemn of vows and Bella had to cover her mouth so they wouldn't see her laughing.

"Why can't we tell Dad?" Gwen asked

"Because when your father and I were growing up we used to pull pranks on each other and other people all the time. When he left the house and I had to stay there he still kept pulling pranks, but I had to stop. My parents didn't like it and when my mother died my father made me very sad. When I died I slowly got the old me back, but when your father didn't visit me I got angry and I thought this would be good revenge. You two are so lucky that you have the father that you do. He wants you to be outgoing and happy, my father didn't." Bella said with contempt in her voice.

"Why?" Gwen asked. Bella got down on her haunches next to her little niece and took her hands.

"My father thought that little girls should be seen and not heard. He thought that pulling pranks on people, running around laughing and being happy in general was something that only little boys got to do. He wanted me to be in the house with my mother cooking, cleaning and making clothes. Your father wants you to do all the things that make you happy." Bella said. Gwen smiled and nodded, her father always told her to go out and have fun with her friends. She couldn't imagine having to stay home all day long cooking and cleaning.

Now that Beetlejuice was home from his work, he pleaded with Bella to explode at him, trying to get some sort of fire back in her. She sat there doing everything in her power to not get angry or start bursting out laughing. She wanted to remain as monotone as neutral and let him squirm a little bit before she let herself loose.

"Why did you keep to yourself all those years?" He asked sitting down next to her.

"I don't know, I just wanted to be alone for a little bit I suppose. A little bit turned into a while longer and before I knew it I had stayed there for six centuries, letting time pass away. We have an unlimited amount of time you know." She said. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"You're just so, so unlike you. I can't stand it, hate it." He said and shook his head again. Ever since she'd come to his house she'd smiled and seemed happy enough, but she was distant and almost cold to him. Not a ball of fire, angry and hurt, but accepting and monotone. He hated every minute of it. She was serene and his sister had never been serene in her life.

Bella kept her mouth tightly seemed, taking everything not to give in. She had to keep this going for as long as she could, but it wasn't easy. During the day Bella laughed and played with the girls lifting them up into the air and twirling them around. They loved to dance in the air while music played and soon Lydia and Bella would join them as they laughed and singed. As soon as Beetlejuice came home it was like she became an actress and took on a different role. She would sit down in one of the chairs and begin stitching or watching as Lydia and her nieces would still be playing. Beetlejuice would coax her to join, but she'd politely refuse his offer and just watch. He'd lived with it for a week now and she loved every time he would look at her and shake his head.

Now he was trying to get her angry, trying to break that silent barrier. The only problem was that she didn't have to break any barrier, she'd done it a long time ago.

When she had died in the same house that her father died in he expected her to continue to take care of him into the afterlife. She had at first, but as the years passed on she began to have enough and began to use her powers to defy him in huge ways. She hated every moment she had to spend with him and she began her plot to get rid of him. She'd only gone outside of the house once and it was long enough to figure out that going outside when you were in your haunting years would send you directly to Saturn and she knew that if she could get her father to go out he wouldn't be able to figure out his way back and he'd get eaten. She shuddered at the thought of sandworms, they'd scared the daylights out her. Finally one day she broke the few, remaining strands of restraint that she did have and shot her mouth off. He walked up to her and slapped her with such force that she actually fell over.

She slowly got up and knew that he had no control over her life, or afterlife anymore. She reached up and grabbed him by his thick neck and pushed him out of the door, locking it behind him. He could have easily broken her grip if he hadn't been so shocked by her actions. He had expected her to do whatever he said and she refused to do it anymore.

"Fine Bella, you want to act that way then do it, but don't think that I approve of it." He said finally and walked off. She kept the smile to herself.. She knew she was torturing him and she probably should tell him, but she was having too much fun watching him as he kept thinking of new ways to try and bring back the spirit in her.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not acting in any unusual way, am I?" She asked calmly. The fire in his own eyes flared and he walked toward her in long strides, lifting her up by her upper arms, squeezing hard.

"Yes you are Bell, you're acting like a dead horse and I don't want to see it anymore. If you don't get it together then I don't know what I'll do." He said. He just had to go and say that and make her start to feel guilty. The hurt was almost unbearable in his voice, but she kept it to herself and shook her head.

"I'm not acting like a dead horse B. I'm acting the way I was taught to act." She said.

Lydia looked at her husband as he walked away from his sister shaking his head. She didn't say anything as he passed her, but felt him place his hand on her shoulder and squeeze as he left. She looked after him before she looked over at Bella. She waited until she heard Beetlejuice leave the house to go pick up the girls from their ballet lessons.

"I think this has gone far enough don't you Bella?" She asked. She'd admit that it had been lots of fun watching how confused he was at his sister's behavior, but seeing the flattened and sad look on his face crushed her. Bella looked over at Lydia and smiled.

"He's tried persuasion, reason, anger and guilt. I'm pretty sure that he's run out of ideas now and I'll give him a break pretty soon." Bella said easily. Lydia was sure that she'd done something like this before on him, but she didn't like to see him in such pain and it was hurting her.

Beetlejuice decided to leave work early to get Bella a present. Maybe if he show her that he really was sorry that he'd never came to see her after he died then she'd be able to get something back. He really did care about her, but he'd been too stubborn and thick headed before to show it to her. He supposed that being a father and husband had mellowed him a lot, but if she didn't start behaving like she used to then he'd show her how he was again. He went to the store and found, not only something for his sister, but all of his girls.

"Please Aunt Bella, can't we do it?" Kiera begged.

"Yes, please?" Gwen asked, tugging on Bella's sleeve. Lydia had gone to see her parents and talk about her stepmother's new sculpture and ideas for what she should do. Delia was in high demand now and she needed new ideas all the time. Bella let them coax her a little while longer before she finally gave in.

"All right, I just can't say no to you girls." She said and they jumped and laughed around her.

"What song this time?" She asked.

"Let's do Jump the line." Kiera said. It was one of their favorites ever since they heard their mother used to dance to it when she was younger.

"All right." Bella said and made the music go on and the girls rise up in the air. They laughed and danced up in the air and Kiera reached out her hand.

"Dance with us." She called. Bella laughed and shook her head.

"Come on Aunt Bella." Gwen said doing a flip. Bella laughed and gave in. How could she say no to her nieces? She rose up in the air and began to dance with them. Doing flips and twists in the air as she danced with them.

Beetlejuice just stood in the doorway watching his sister so animated as she was in the air with his daughters. He knew right then that she'd been fooling him the whole time. He knew that he should have been mad at them, but he was too relieved that she wasn't the dead horse she was pretending she was.

"I guess you had me pretty fooled huh?" He said and Bella almost dropped Kiera and Gwen she was so surprised.

"B! You're home early." She said and cut the music, slowly dropping them back down to the ground.

"Yeah and it's a good thing too or else you would have drove me crazy Bell. I have to admit that you got me pretty good on that one."

"Well, I just couldn't help myself." She said honestly and shrugged. He shook his head and smiled.

"That's my sis." He said and gave her a hug.

"I guess you found out huh?" Lydia said as she walked in, a smile on her face. He turned to look at her.

"Who else was in on this?" He asked and watched as Kiera and Gwen looked anywhere but up at him.

"Well, with all this maybe I shouldn't give you the presents I got." He said and turned to walk away.

"Presents?" Kiera, Gwen and Bella asked at the same time. He couldn't help himself, he started to laugh at them. Lydia just smiled and sat down on the couch.

"Did you really get something for them?" She asked. He turned to his wife and smiled at her.

"You too Babes." He said and winked as he walked over to sit next to her. All three of the girls surrounded him, his sister squeezing in on the other side to look in the bag.

"What is it B?" She asked. He laughed at her and put his arm around his sister, giving her a squeeze.

"There's my animated little sister that I wanted back." He said and smiled at her. He felt a little like Santa Clause as he handed everyone a small velvet box. He watched as they all opened them up and looked inside.

"Oh Babe, this is beautiful." Lydia said and withdrew a long silver chain that held a silver script J and a dark amethyst stone at the end.

"Wow Dad, this is so pretty, but what's the J for?" Kiera asked as she clipped the necklace around her neck and turned to help Gwen with hers.

"The J is for Juice Kier. Our last name." Beetlejuice said as he fastened the necklace around his wife's neck and watched it drop to rest right above her cleavage before he turned to his sister who held the necklace in her hand.

"What's the matter Bell? You don't like it?" He asked.

"Oh no..I mean, it's beautiful and I love it." She said in horror at herself. "I just, well no one's ever given me anything except you B and I sort of forgot what it felt like." She said. He laughed at her embarrassment and took the necklace out of her hand to fasten it around her neck.

"All of you are my girls and I want a constant reminder of that." He said and looked from Bella to Lydia, Kiera and Gwen who all had the shining silver and stones around their necks. Their faces lit up with smiles and glowing around him.


	25. Secrets are Hard

So this is the beginning of the end folks. At first this was going to be the last chapter, but there was just too much to describe so I decided to make it two chapters instead of one.

It's hard to believe that this story is nearing it's end, it really is, but sigh it must.

I hope that you enjoy this chapter and stay tuned for what happens next.

Enjoy and Review! Loves Much and you all should know that by now ;)

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"Will you two hold still?" Delia hissed at Lydia and Beetlejuice. They had been modeling for her for the past two hours and about ready to collapse.

"You have no idea how hard this is Delia." Lydia growled. Delia had loved the idea of the twin black lions and decided that was what she wanted to have for her next project. How on earth did they get roped into this? Lydia wondered as she held as still as she could in her lion form.

"I'm almost done for the day and then you can relax." She said, her head bent down over her sketch that she was creating. Lydia sighed and waited, keeping as still as possible, Beetlejuice right beside her, having a hard time keeping his balance as she was. She glanced over at him and saw his emerald green eye wink at her.

"I said hold still." Delia said and they groaned together.

"So, you're Beej's sister." Charles said to Bella looking at the pretty woman who sat across from him, flanked by both of his granddaughters.

"You certainly look like him." Barbara said and smiled. Bella returned the smile and put her arms around her nieces.

"Everyone said that when we were children. The only difference is that he got our mother's hair and I got her eyes." She said and shrugged. "And now little Gwen looks like us as well, while Kiera looks like her mother." Bella said and gave the girls a squeeze.

"They'll both be heard breakers when they get older." Adam said and made both girls blush and everyone else laugh. Lydia and Beetlejuice emerged from the studio door each rubbing their necks while Delia followed them.

"You two are such babies." She said and rolled her eyes as she followed them out.

"You should try modeling sometime." Beetlejuice said. "How did you get me roped back into this Babes?" He asked. Lydia just shook her head and sat down next to Barbara.

"I don't know. She always has a way of making you agree to something without you realizing you'd done it." She said.

"Thank you." Delia said proudly and sat down next to Charles.

"So will you be sticking around Bella or are you just here for a visit?" Adam asked, pushing up his glasses a bit further.

"Now that I've been reunited with B, met Lydia and the girls there's no way they'll be able to get rid of me." Bella said and winked. She reached up to hold the scripted silver J that hung around her neck and smiled. Beetlejuice saw that and had to smile himself. All four of his girls were wearing their necklaces and he hadn't seen them take them off since he'd given them the gifts.

"We'll have to find you some place around here to get you settled into." Charles said.

"She's fine for right now at our place." Beetlejuice said quickly. He had just gotten his sister back, he didn't want her to leave any time soon. Bella laughed at her brother and shook her head.

"He's right, I'm fine for right now, getting to know everyone and getting to have B again, but I will need a place of my own and I suppose I'll have to do something for that as well." She said and sighed. She'd have to get some sort of job if she wanted to stay in the real world with her brother, new sister-in-law and nieces and she did want to. Being in the afterlife did strange things to time. It could feel like you've been there for ten minutes and find out you were there for three days. No, she didn't want to miss any more time without her family.

She wondered briefly about her mother, but she hadn't been able to find her when she had been released from haunting and she eventually gave up. She hoped that her mother had a good afterlife and that's all she could do.

"What's up Bell? Whatcha thinkin' about?" Beetlejuice asked.

"Just thinking about mother. I've never been able to find her." She said.

"What was our other grandmother like?" Gwen asked, looking up at Bella. Bella smiled down at her little niece and stroked her white blonde hair, her father's hair, her grandmother's hair.

"She was a lady like no other." Bella said and saw Beetlejuice smile and nod.

"Like what?" Kiera asked. She might not have been her real grandmother, technically, but she was still interested in her.

"She was a real lady that grew up in a castle, had the most beautiful clothes and everything. Your grandmother loved to learn about things and she was good at it too. That's why your father's name is Betelgeuse. She loved astrology, history and all sorts of art." Bella said. She closed her eyes for a second and could see her mother like no time had passed.

"What did she look like?" Gwen asked.

"She was so beautiful. Had the longest hair that curled in a large spiral all the way down to her legs and large dark grey eyes." Bella said.

"You're eyes and Dad's hair." Kiera said and smiled.

"Exactly." Bella said and smiled down at her little nieces.

"I wonder why you couldn't find her." Adam said.

"If a ghost doesn't want to be found, they won't be." Beetlejuice said and shrugged. "It's a simple fact of the afterlife. Only the ghosts who want to be found by their relatives will be available. Mother probably had enough when she was alive and didn't want any more when she died. I don't blame her in the least. Bell and I have our memories of her and we can tell the girls stories about what she was like. That's enough." Beetlejuice said. He would have liked to see his mother again, but he understood her wanting to get away from her life. It had been hard when she was cast out by her family and he figured that she didn't want to relive any of it.

"But you wanted to be found Aunt Bella?" Gwen asked.

"Of course I did, I made myself available knowing that the only person who would come looking for me was B. No one else in our family would come to see me."

"All right, that's enough question's for now girls." Lydia said.

"Aw," They said together. "We want to hear more." Kiera said craning her head to look at her mother.

"Not right now, you're aunt needs a break from all of this." She said in the tone they knew not to mess with. "Now come on, let's go home." She said and held out her hand. Kiera got up and grabbed her mother's hand while Gwen grabbed her father's.

"We'll see you later Pumpkin." Charles said. Lydia smiled for a brief second before she, and the rest of her family vanished into thin air.

"We really should do something special for Gwen's birthday, this year has been hard on her." Lydia said when she and Beetlejuice settled into their bed later that night.

"You wouldn't know it to look at her, she's such a trooper. You're right though, we need to do something big for her." He said.

"What if we took her and Kiera someplace special, that they've never been to. Maybe someplace exotic?"

"Like what? The Caribbean or something like that instead of having all of her friends over?"

"Something like that."

"Interesting Babes, we'll have to ask her about that before we go making any plans. She's old enough to decide on what she wants." Beetlejuice said and yawned. Lydia nodded and snuggled down with him, falling asleep within seconds. Her little girl would be turning six years old, it was hard to believe.

"We can go anywhere in the world?" Gwen asked. When Beetlejuice and Lydia sat her down to tell her what she could have for her birthday the next morning before school.

"Yes, but if you decide that is what you want then you can't have any of your friends. It would just have to be family since we can't show them what we really are. If you do want your friends then we have to stay here and there has to be no magic." Beetlejuice explained to his daughter. Gwen wanted to pout, it would be so great to be able to go to anyplace in the world for her birthday, but then she couldn't have any of her friends over. And if she wanted her friends over, they couldn't do anything fun besides what the did already. It was hard to keep what her parents and aunt could do a secret. It was the coolest thing that had ever happened to her and no one could know about it.

"I don't know, I want to do both."

"That isn't an option Babydoll, you know that we can't have people finding out what we can do." Lydia said, coming down to her daughter's level to look her in the eyes.

"I know, but it would be cool." Gwen said wistfully. She knew all of her friends would love to go to the beach for her birthday or float around the house dancing in the air, but she knew that if she said anything that her parents would be really mad and she didn't know what would happen.

"It would be, but you'll have to chose. Not right now, but sometime soon let us know what you want to do and we'll get it all planned out." Lydia said and waited for Gwen to nod before she lifted herself back up and walked out with her to drive Gwen and Kiera to school.

"I don't know what the big deal is if we could tell a of our friends knew that Mom, Dad and Aunt Bella can do all sorts of stuff. I know that they'd love it." Gwen huffed when they walked into the school.

"I know, but Mom and Dad said that we couldn't tell so they must have a good reason. They said that they have to look like they are still alive." Kiera said.

"It's still not fair." She said and Kiera just shrugged at her little sister. What else could she do? She knew that her friends would love it too if they found out that her mom and dad had powers, they were already the coolest parents in her circle, but her parents said no and she had to live with that. She already found out from personal experience that her parents did what they thought was best. She said goodbye to Gwen and headed to class, without thinking she thought about John for a brief moment and saw his face right before he had slapped her. His eyes were narrowed and hard and his face turned and tight. She shivered as she walked into her classroom and thought about how she never wanted to question her parents like that again.

"So what are you doing for your birthday Gwenny?" Melissa, Gwen's best friend asked. Gwen shrugged her shoulders at her friend and avoided her eyes. They walked out of their classroom together and headed for the courtyard where they met Meghan and Kiera to wait for their mother's to pick them up.

"Mom and Dad said I can either have a big party or we can go somewhere as a family." She said.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet, I'd like to be able to bring some friends along with us, but I can't. It's so stupid that we can't show..." Gwen had to stop herself, she'd almost spilled the beans to her best friend and she had to put her hand over her mouth to stop from having it all spill out.

"Can't show what?" Melissa asked looking at the guilty face on her best friend.

"Nothing, never mind." Gwen said and shook her head. Her parents would kill her if they found out that she told her best friend.

"Okay...so when can we meet your aunt that you've been talking about so much?" Melissa asked. Gwen shrugged again and looked around Melissa to see if Kiera was coming out of her classroom. "You sure have been secretive lately Gwen, you never tell me anything anymore." Melissa said and pouted.

"I do too Missy. I just don't know what my aunt is up to." Gwen said, but Melissa still gave her a pouting look. Gwen rolled her eyes at her best friend. Sometimes she could be such a baby. "Fine, why don't you and Meghan come by after school today and then you can meet our aunt and we can talk about my birthday some more." Gwen said.

"Okay, Meghan and I will come over as soon as we're finished with our chores." Melissa said. "So how come you've never seen your aunt before? Did your dad and her have a fight or something?" Melissa asked. Gwen was saved when Kiera and Meghan walked out of their classroom talking and walked towards them. Gwen walked up to her sister and grabbed her arm, yanking her away from her friend.

"Hey." Kiera said, looking down at her little sister.

"Hi Meghan, we've gotta go, but we'll see you in a little bit." Gwen said and hauled her big sister away.

"What's the big idea Gwenny?" Kiera asked when they walked out to wait for their mother to come pick them up.

"I almost told Missy." Gwen said. Kiera looked at her little sister, she knew that this would be a hard secret to keep, but she had to.

"You can't do that Gwen. You always go spouting off when you lose your temper, so cool it okay? Why were you getting mad anyway?"

"Oh, Missy wanted to know what I was doing for my birthday. It's so stupid that we can't tell our best friends, I mean I thought friends are supposed to share secrets." Gwen said and crossed her arms over her chest getting angry again.

"They are, but this is a family secret. You blow this and who knows what would happen to Mom and Dad, not to mention Aunt Bella, Aunt Barbara and Uncle Adam. This is really big Gwenny." Kiera said. Gwen looked at her big sister and sighed, uncrossing her arms.

"I know it is, I just wish other people knew. I feel like we're hiding something bad."

"We aren't, it's okay Gwen. So did you decide what you wanted to do?" Kiera asked, trying to cheer her little sister up. She just shook her head and looked down at her shinny black shoes.

"I really want to take a few friends to someplace, but I can't and if I have them over to the house we can't do anything cool."

"We can still do normal stuff." Kiera offered. "Have games and movies, that kind of thing."

"But that's so boring, everyone does that." Gwen whined.

"So we'll go somewhere."

"But then I won't have any friends."

"Ugh, forget it, I give up." Kiera said and threw up her hands. Her little sister could be so difficult sometimes and it was driving her crazy. Why couldn't she just accept the fact that this is a secret that no one can know about? It wasn't like it was that hard, but then again her little sister was only five almost six.

Meghan and Melissa stood in the middle of the room and stared when Bella walked through the door. They'd never seen anyone else as pretty as Kiera and Gwen's mom, but there she was looking like a princess with long light brown hair and dark grey eyes.

"Hello." Bella said nervously as the girls stared at her. She turned to look at Gwen and Kiera who were standing behind her smiling. "Is there something on me?" She asked. Kiera giggled at her aunt and shook her head.

"Megs, Missy, this is our Aunt Bella." She said. They seemed to snap out of it a little bit and shook their heads together.

"Hi." Meghan said and smiled

"We've heard a lot about you." Melissa said, still a little in awe. Bella smiled at the girls and looked around for Lydia. She didn't really want to be left alone with strangers in the house. She wasn't used to having to curtail her powers and she had to learn how to, she didn't want to slip up and have everyone find out.

Lydia walked in and found Bella looking near desperate having two girls launched on her and smiled.

"Hello girls, I see you've met Mr. Juice's sister, Bella." She said and walked over to put her arm around her sister-in-law. She saw the relief flooding Bella's face when Lydia announced herself.

"Hi Mrs. Juice." The girls said together. No wonder they were Kiera and Gwen's best friends, they acted almost the exact same way. Lydia smiled down at them and saw her daughter's smiling like they had found a pile of gold.

"Why don't you girls go outside and play, it's such a nice day." She said and waited for all of them to leave.

"Thanks, I didn't want to mess up and do something that I'd regret." Bella said when they closed the door behind them. Lydia laughed at her and shook her head.

"You won't do anything to mess up Bella. Don't worry about it so much." Lydia said and watched Bella smile at her, but it didn't reach her eyes. She was afraid that she'd ruin everything for them, but Lydia knew that she wouldn't. She did wonder about her girls, how they were holding up with keeping secrets. Little girls had a way of letting things slip even when they didn't mean to and that's what really worried Lydia.


	26. Happy Birthday Gwen

**Author's Notes:** I know that this story could have ended at the end of Chapter 21 and it would have been fine, but that's the key word, _fine._ When creating this story it was never about some big grand adventure, it was about a family. This story has been interwoven with so many things that there were a few things that I _knew_ I had to get out and loose ends that needed to be tied before I ended it this story.

First and foremost was when I created BJ's past. It was an extensive backstory where I gave him a past and a sister and when I did that, I could not leave it without her arriving. Then there was also Gwen. I needed her to play a more important role in her family. Before then she was just there, but not really a major character in the story. She's five years old and now part of a huge secret that she has to keep. I needed to draw that out and really show how hard it was for her. It's not easy to do.

When I write stories I let the characters take me where they want to go and this is where they took me.

I am making a third story out of this, since these characters are so complex and this story will go on with another jump in time. The third story will start out when Kiera is fifteen and Gwen is thirteen. I don't know exactly what's going to happen, but I have a few ideas. Whether or not you want to read it is another thing, but I will be writing it, because there are so many things that can happen with it.

That's all I have to say and I'm getting off my soapbox now. I hope you enjoy the last bit of For Our Children.

Keegan Eavan.

* * *

Gwen stared up at that the ceiling of her bedroom. She had finally decided that she wanted some of her friends over instead of going somewhere, but she wasn't happy about it. Now it was her birthday and she really didn't care all that much.

It still upset her that she had to chose and not get what she really wanted, even though it was her birthday. Everyone would be over in a few hours, but she just wanted to be in her room and left alone while everyone else decorated.

"She's still upset that she had to choose Beej and if she doesn't get over it, it's not going to be a very good birthday for her." Lydia said.

"You want me to go talk to her?" He asked and Lydia nodded.

"I know that we've told her that it's important, but she's getting moodier about it and I'm worried that she's cracking under the pressure." Lydia said sitting down on the couch next to Bella. Beetlejuice turned to go upstairs to talk to his daughter. He didn't want to admit it, but she had been acting out lately, a lot like Kiera right before she decided to run away and that's the last thing that they needed to deal with after everything else that had happened. He knocked on her door and opened it up.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"You're Mom's worried about you Gwenny and wanted me to come up to talk to you." He said coming into her room and sitting down on her bed.

"I'm fine."

"No you're not and that's okay. You can't really understand right now, because I know that you just want your birthday to be the best, but this is something that is very important. We can't go around zapping things and making them move or lifting your friends up in the air because then everyone would know that we are different and eventually they would find out that your mother, your aunt and myself aren't alive and everything would spill out. Everyone right now don't really know if they believe in ghosts or not. Some people do and some people don't and that's the way it has to be." Beetlejuice explained.

"I know that, I'm not stupid you know." She said, not looking at her father.

"I know you're not Gwen, we just want you to know the reasons." He said. Gwen just kept looking up at the ceiling and heard her father sigh and get up off of her bed. "Happy Birthday Gwen." He said and walked out. Gwen sighed and sat up on her bed after her father left and felt a cold knot in her stomach. There would be other things that they would be able to do, it was just that no one else could know about it. She got up to see what everyone else was doing.

"I don't get why she doesn't get it." Kiera said when Beetlejuice walked back downstairs.

"She's young Kiera, so are you." He said simply and shrugged. "Hopefully she'll get over it and figure out that this isn't going to change." Gwen overheard her father and got angry all over again.

"You want me to get over what Dad? Get over being alive? Does it make you made that I'm alive and you're not?" She asked making everyone turn to look at her.

"That's not what B meant Gwen." Bella said looking up at her niece.

"Yeah it was. He wants me to stop being a baby about all of this, but you guys don't have friends that want to know everything do you, so it doesn't matter that much to you." She said and walked down.

"It's really not that big of a deal Gwen. You're making it out to be far bigger than what it is."

"Am I really? I don't know about that. You all are so concerned about everything that it must be a big deal or you wouldn't be freaking out that I almost told Melissa."

"You almost told?" Lydia asked.

"Yup and maybe I should, I know that she'd understand."

"She might understand, but do you think her mother would? Do you think that they would understand that your parents are dead and still let you play with their daughter? I don't think that they would Gwen." Lydia said.

"It's not my fault that you guys are dead, why am I being punished for it? Kiera is the one who ran away and you didn't punish her, it's not fair." She was angry, more angry than she'd ever been and she really didn't know why. Somewhere in her she knew that it was silly to be so mad, but she was and it was overflowing her.

"Gwen you need to calm down." Beetlejuice said. She just shook her head and didn't say anything. Somewhere in her, something was let go and she felt like she was dizzy and started to weave.

"Look at that B." Bella said. They all watched as Gwen started to glow and levitate a few inches off of the floor.

"How is that even possible? She's alive not dead." Lydia said.

"Has she ever been this angry before?"

"I don't think so. She's gotten angry before, but this is the first time she's held a grudge for more than a few minutes."

"I wondered if this would happen." Lydia and Beetlejuice turned to Bella, their eyes drawn in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Beetlejuice asked his sister.

"She is half ghost B. You were dead when you created her and I wondered if maybe some of your powers went over to her. Maybe it just took her thinking about all of this and being angry enough that it was able to show herself." Bella said and shrugged.

Gwen looked down to see that her feet were off the ground and started to panic, she fell down the few inches that she rose, her knees giving way as she fell to her knees.

"What happened?" She asked. She was dizzy and scared.

"You started showing some powers Gwen, has anything like this ever happened before?" Beetlejuice asked.

"Yes." Lydia said. Everyone turned to look at her. "When Gwen was a baby a few strange things would happen now that I think about it. It wasn't anything big, a light blinked or a window shook. Things that I shrugged at then, but now I wonder." She said.

"So what happens now?" Beetlejuice asked as Gwen sat there stunned.

"Either we forget about it or try to help her work on them." Bella said.

"Work on them. I want to work on them, I can do it Dad." Gwen said standing up on her shaky legs.


End file.
